Promoting Access
WHAT WE DO
The State Bar’s mission of public protection includes increasing access to legal services. The agency works to maximize funding, inform policy with actionable data, and combat fraud targeting the most vulnerable in our state. As the state’s largest single funder for legal aid, the State Bar distributes grants to organizations that provide free civil legal services to low-income Californians.
$149.6 million
Total legal aid funds distributed in 2023
101 statewide
Legal aid organizations supported
11 million
Estimated number of low-income Californians eligible for legal aid
Legal aid funding continues to rise
With funds from Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA), allocations from the Legislature, donations, and other sources, the State Bar’s role supporting legal aid continues to grow.
At nearly $150 million, another record-breaking year in legal aid assistance
In 2023, a two-year record-breaking trend continued, with nearly $150 million in legal aid distributed by the State Bar’s Legal Services Trust Fund Commission, which included more than $50 million in IOLTA funds and $30 million dedicated to homelessness prevention assistance, including assisting California homeowners in avoiding foreclosure. The funding tops the $142.5 million figure from 2022, and once again, more than doubles 2021 allocations.
LA resident Robert Earl Taylor shares how the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles helped him avoid eviction and the real-life impacts of the State Bar's legal aid assistance to orgs representing those most in need.
After negotiations with banks, IOLTA funds $50 million higher than projected
The Office of Access and Inclusion sustains a robust Leadership Bank Program and encourages banks to pay higher interest rates on IOLTAs (short-term pooled attorney client trust accounts). In a rising interest rate environment, the State Bar negotiated the best possible IOLTA interest rates with the largest financial institutions. This resulted in $176.4 million in IOLTA revenue in 2023, $50 million higher than projected.
For the first time, State Bar allocates $20 million CARE Courts funds to public defenders’ offices
For the first time, the State Bar is allocating funds to public defenders’ offices throughout California in support of Governor Newsom’s Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court initiative. CARE Court is a new framework to get people with mental health and substance use disorders the support and care they need. The funding allows public defenders and legal aid programs to provide legal counsel to respondents in eight pilot counties. All remaining California counties are expected to offer CARE Courts by December 2024.
Legal Aid Leaders summer fellows program provides experience and a paycheck
In 2023, the State Bar’s Legal Services Trust Fund Commission awarded nearly $760,000 to 35 legal aid providers to support a paid program for summer law school fellows. Seventy-six fellows were supported by this award. Normally, such positions are unpaid; the Legal Aid Leaders program allowed nonprofit participants to pay their fellows a living wage. The State Bar partnered with the California ChangeLawyers Foundation to provide the fellowship cohort support, training, and networking opportunities. California ChangeLawyers® contributed $50,000 to fund five additional fellows for the cohort, bringing the total to 81. A 2019 State Bar Justice Gap Study found that law students who participated in summer internships with legal aid providers had a higher rate of pursuing a career in legal aid.
Awareness campaigns highlight ways to access legitimate legal help and target legal fraud
The State Bar executed its first-ever Spanish-language radio and social media campaign in 2023. The effort aimed to encourage Spanish-speaking consumers to check with the State Bar before hiring an attorney, to ensure that someone offering them legal advice is licensed to do so. Focused in San Diego and Fresno counties, the campaign aligned with a substantial increase in Spanish-language calls to the State Bar. Separately, the State Bar collaborated with the California Access to Justice Commission on a pilot knowledge gap social media campaign to raise awareness about legal resources available to those needing assistance with medical legal issues.
Access to Justice event seeks improvements via legal technology, racial justice programming
In October 2023, the State Bar hosted 170 attendees from 81 organizations (including 72 IOLTA grantee organizations), for the hybrid “Harnessing Emerging Trends to Expand Access to Justice” seminar. With keynote speaker California Supreme Court Justice Kelli M. Evans, and insight from Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, the event sought to inspire the legal aid community to expand access to justice through legal technology and racial justice programming.