Support Legal Aid with a PA IOLTA Account at a Platinum Leader Bank
One of the easiest and most impactful ways to support legal aid is to open an IOLTA account at a Platinum Leader Bank. The Pennsylvania IOLTA Board's Platinum Leader Bank program is made up of financial institutions that have committed to paying premium interest rates on IOLTA accounts. Choosing a Platinum Leader Bank increases the amount of funding available for civil legal aid, the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, and its legal aid providers. That is because the interest earned on lawyers' pooled trust accounts is transferred to the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board and used to make grants to civil legal aid programs across the Commonwealth. It is the largest funder of civil legal aid in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania IOLTA Board recognizes attorneys that choose to open their IOLTA account at a Platinum Leader Bank through its "I Bank on Justice" campaign. There is no limit on the number of IOLTA accounts that a firm can maintain, so you or your firm can still keep your existing IOLTA account and open an additional IOLTA account at a Platinum Leader Bank. More information about opening an IOLTA account and a full list of Platinum Leader Banks is available on the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board's website.
What is an IOLTA account?
IOLTA stands for Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts. Attorneys regularly receive client funds to be held in trust for future use. If the amount is large or the funds are to be held for a long period of time, attorneys customarily place these funds in an interest-bearing account for the benefit of the client. But when the funds are small or expected to be held for a short time, they cannot practically be invested to benefit the client. These funds are instead deposited into IOLTA accounts and the interest earned is used to provide civil legal aid to the poor. Every state, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, operates an IOLTA program. In Pennsylvania, the program is administered by the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Board.