Winter 2010 (Downloadable PDF)

The Legal Project

Pro Bono Corner
Lisa A. Frisch, Executive Director

Here we are entering a new decade and not surprisingly, we face all too familiar funding challenges. Funding cuts loom from every angle at The Legal Project and this is the experience of programs for civil legal services programs across the state. There is a new wrinkle in the latest funding crisis to face civil legal services, however—the plummeting of the revenues in the IOLA Fund (Interest on Lawyer Account Fund).

IOLA earns the interest income net of any fees on these accounts, which then is awarded to civil legal services programs in NYS. These funds have been a tremendous support to our programs statewide, including The Legal Project’s domestic violence program and is one of the few that we have been able to rely on as a legal services community to support the work that we do for our low-income clients. Unfortunately, with the precipitous drop in interest rates, the IOLA Fund is down an incredible 75%--which would lead to a slashing of the available grant funds for our programs. And this is at a time where we face a huge increase in clients in need of our services. Just at The Legal Project alone, our numbers increased in 2009 by a startling 21% and 2010 is expected to bring even greater numbers of clients in need as the economy continues to dwell in the fiscal basement.

In recognition of this crisis, the NYS Senate and Assembly, led by Senator John Sampson, Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson and Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein held legislative hearings on this issue, the last of which was on January 7, 2010 in Albany. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman placed an additional $15 million in the Office of Court Administration’s budget to help cover part of the shortfall in IOLA, but this has not yet been approved in the Executive Budget process. Judge Lippman testified about the problem and the court system’s commitment to civil legal services for the poor when testifying at the hearing. He stated, “Clearly, our state is failing to provide low-income New Yorkers with meaningful access to justice. We cannot and will not stand idly by as legal services programs are forced to shut their doors, leaving our most vulnerable citizens without help in their time of greatest need." Judge Lippman said he hoped for an umbrella system that included a mix of the present system and state budget dollars. "To ultimately succeed”, he told the panel, “we must have permanent state funding that is not dependent on any single revenue stream."

For the entire article in the Times Union, go here.

Testimony was also provided by a variety of stakeholders, including very compelling statements from clients about the difference that our help made to their lives. Cynthia Schrock, President of WBASNY also testified, as did Michael Getnick, outgoing President of NYSBA. We hope that the current funding fiasco will finally shed enough light on what has become an annual, proverbial mountain that all of our programs have to climb in order to survive another year. We will keep you updated on the status of the funding issue as more information becomes available. You can also consult the Empire Justice Center’s website at www.empirejustice.org for updates, current data and copies of the testimony provided at the hearings.

The Legal Project Volunteers Receive Duboff Memorial Award
from Fund for Modern Courts

We were honored in December to be selected, along with the volunteers from Safe Horizon in NYC, to receive the Samuel J. Duboff Memorial Award, which recognizes non-lawyers who make extraordinary contributions toward improving the quality of justice in New York State. First presented in 1986, the award is named for the late Samuel J. Duboff, who served as Chair of Modern Courts' Executive Committee for 19 years. Mr. Duboff was a partner in the accounting firm of Ernst & Whinney, and was a respected leader of many civic, social service organizations. He was well known for encouraging others to volunteer their time for community service. Members of the Duboff family remain active in the court reform effort.

We were very proud to accept this award at the City Bar Center from the Fund’s Chair, Victor Kovner. Legal Clinic volunteers Abe Bolgatz, Rose Porter and Wendi Weeden took a road trip with us to NYC to accept the award on behalf of all of our non-attorney volunteers. The non-attorney volunteers are the unsung heroes of the work that we do at The Legal Project and we are delighted that this was recognized by the Fund for Modern Courts.


Photo by Rick Kopstein, New York Law Journal

Here is a photo from our excursion to the Big City. From left, Jessica Lennon, Flynn Jebb, Abe Bolgatz, Rose Porter, Wendi Weeden

Vital Provisions Extend Unemployment Eligibility
to Victims of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault

Thank you for volunteering in December!