State Bar Frees $7.2 Million in Legal Aid Fund

Reversing votes it had taken on three earlier occasions, the California Bar’s Board of Governors voted unanimously Saturday to release $7.2 million from a Legal Services Trust Fund to help finance legal aid programs for the poor.

Henry Der, chairman of the Bar’s trust fund commission, said the first checks probably will be mailed late next month. So far, the commission has approved applications for funding from 85 legal services projects and support centers throughout the state.

“I’m extremely relieved and happy that the board gave the green light,” Der said after the board meeting in San Francisco.

State Bar President Burke M. Critchfield said the vote was unanimous and that he expects the money to have a “significant favorable impact” on providing legal aid to the indigent in California.

More than $12 million has been accumulated in the Legal Services Trust Fund since it became effective on March 1, 1983, but until Saturday, members of the 22-member Board of Governors had refused to distribute money from it because of legal challenges.

Established by the Legislature in 1961, the program requires about 80,000 attorneys in California to pool client trust fund accounts that are too small or held for too short a time to draw interest in excess of the service charges. For example, a client settling a suit for $500 would give the money to the lawyer to hold for a few days until the paper work was completed. The interest on the collected funds is sent to the Bar Assn. for legal aid.

After the program was challenged in 1983, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that while the Legislature acted properly in establishing the fund, it was up to attorneys to decide whether they wanted to participate or not.

Decision Overturned

That decision was overturned last December when the 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego held that under the law attorneys are required to pool clients’ trust accounts that meet the criteria.

Until the most recent ruling, the Bar’s Board of Governors had refused three times in a year to distribute money from the fund, which is now reported to be growing at the rate of $10 million a year.

The Legislature established the state fund to provide legal services after the Reagan Administration slashed by 25% the financial support for the Legal Services Corp., which distributes federal funds for legal aid.

More than 30 other states have trust fund programs similar to California’s but only six make participation mandatory.

Another resolution concerning the trust fund presented to the Board of Governors on Saturday called for a prohibition on the use of money from it for legislative advocacy. A final decision on efforts to limit lobbying was postponed until the board’s meeting in March.