About IOLA

What is IOLA?

History: Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) is a unique and innovative way to increase access to justice for individuals and families living in poverty and to improve our justice system. Without taxing the public, and at no cost to lawyers or their clients, interest from lawyer trust accounts is pooled to provide civil legal aid to the poor and support improvements to the justice system. Every state, along with the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, operates an IOLTA program.

Play video to learn about the history of IOLTA programs .

In 1983, with the strong support of the New York State Bar Association, the legislature created the New York State Interest on Lawyer Account Fund ("IOLA") as a means to provide additional financial support to civil legal service organizations that had been decimated by federal budget cuts.

The New York State IOLA program requires attorneys to deposit funds received from clients either in interest bearing accounts for the benefit of the clients or in interest bearing IOLA accounts, in accordance with the provision of the statute (Judiciary Law §497). The interest on IOLA accounts is pooled and provides the money for grants made by the Board of Trustees of the IOLA Fund to non-profit civil legal services providers across the state.

IOLA's current two-year grant cycle will provide $70 million in grants for providers of civil legal aid to low-income New Yorkers, furthering the goal of equal access to justice for all.