(March 26, 2003) Topeka, KS—In a far reaching decision issued on March 26, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of
Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) programs after many years of litigation. The Supreme Court
found that IOLTA programs do not violate the U.S. Constitution and affirmed the view that IOLTA is a constitutional
means of funding legal services for the poor. The Washington State case decided by the Supreme
Court (Brown et al. v. Legal Foundation of Washington et al.) represented the conclusion of many years of
litigation and affirmed a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that had upheld the constitutionality
of the IOLTA program in Washington State. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier reached the
opposite conclusion in a Texas case, so this U.S. Supreme Court decision resolved that split in favor of
IOLTA programs.
IOLTA programs exist in every state in the United States. IOLTA programs collect the relatively small
amounts of interest that are earned on lawyers’ general trust accounts across a given state and pool them
together to make grants for charitable and educations purposes.
The Kansas IOLTA program is supported by more than 3,000 lawyers and 125 financial institutions across
the state. IOLTA grants are primarily aimed at funding programs that provide civil legal services for the
poor, law-related education for the public, and improvements in the administration of justice, with the
largest share going to provide direct legal services for victims of domestic violence.
The Kansas Bar Foundation, administrator of the IOLTA Program in Kansas, was pleased that the Supreme
Court confirmed that lawyers and their clients lose nothing as a result of IOLTA. The Kansas Bar
Association representing over 6,000 lawyers in the state of Kansas had filed a “friend of the Court” brief
supporting the constitutionality of IOLTA programs.
Tom Herlocker of Winfield, President of the Kansas Bar Foundation, and Sara Beezley of Girard, President
of the Kansas Bar Association, praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in a joint statement. “During the
16 years of its existence, the Kansas IOLTA program has distributed over $2.5 million dollars for worthy
projects, primarily for civil legal services for low-income citizens of Kansas. We are pleased that the U.S.
Supreme Court has recognized both the constitutionality of IOLTA programs and allowed this critical source
of funding to continue.”
About the Kansas Bar Foundation
The Kansas Bar Foundation, administrator of the IOLTA program, was established in 1957 to serve
Kansans and the legal profession through funding charitable and educational projects that foster the welfare,
honor, and integrity of the legal system by improving its accessibility, equality, and uniformity.
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