The Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) is a program mandated by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC). It requires lawyers and law firms to establish interest-bearing accounts for client funds that are nominal in amount or expected to be held for a short period of time. Interest on these accounts is forwarded from a bank or savings and loan association to the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee. The MA IOLTA Committee then distributes these IOLTA funds to three charitable entities proportionally, according to the population/geography served by each: the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (67%), the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (26%) and the Boston Bar Foundation (7%).

The Supreme Judicial Court Order limits the use of IOLTA to two purposes: 1) to provide civil legal services to low-income clients and 2) to improve the administration of justice.

Core Funding Objectives of BBF IOLTA Grant Making

The Boston Bar Foundation invites applications from eligible non-profit organizations in Massachusetts for projects that advance the following objectives:

• Provide civil legal services to low-income persons and/or underserved populations, especially organizations and programs that respond to an identified and unmet legal need.

• Result in the development and strengthening of pro bono programs which generate substantial voluntary legal services by the private bar to low-income and underserved populations.

• Conduct activities that demonstrably contribute to the improvement of the administration of justice in Massachusetts, i.e., projects that directly improve the courts’ effectiveness, address systemic problems in the court system, or provide information to low-income, underserved or special needs populations regarding their legal rights and/or accessibility to the courts.