“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24 (RSV)
In the summer of 2025, the N.C. General Assembly took steps to deny those who cannot afford legal services access to justice the rest of us enjoy. The legislature did so by freezing grant funding from a vital and longstanding state program that funds free civil legal services for those who cannot afford them.
The program, known as IOLTA (Interest On Lawyers’ Trust Accounts), has received broad support in North Carolina for more than 40 years. With this freeze, we are now the only state in the country not providing free civil legal services through IOLTA. North Carolina’s IOLTA program was established by the N.C. Supreme Court in 1983.
All North Carolina lawyers are required to participate. Simply explained, interest earned on client monies deposited in lawyers’ trust accounts is transferred from the lawyers’ trust bank accounts into the IOLTA fund. Those funds are then used to provide monetary grants to organizations like Legal Aid of North Carolina Inc.
IOLTA funding comes from the interest earned on lawyers’ trust accounts. Not a dime comes from taxes imposed upon the citizens of North Carolina.
Legal aid organizations, all non-profit entities, provide legal services to those who cannot afford to hire an attorney for civil matters and who are often the most vulnerable among us. Examples include helping persons facing eviction and potential homelessness, obtaining protective orders from the courts to protect victims of domestic violence and abuse and representing persons facing other dire hardships.
Civil legal services provided through funding from N.C. IOLTA have been critical in helping citizens in western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene.
The General Assembly’s funding freeze has required civil legal aid services to close offices and lay off staff. Prior to the freeze, IOLTA funding constituted about 20% of the budget of Legal Aid of North Carolina Inc. (LANC), North Carolina’s largest provider of civil legal aid.
As a result of the freeze, nine Legal Aid of N.C. offices have closed. (The Boone office of LANC is among the nine closed.) LANC and other legal service providers are losing staff attorneys and support staff, professionals who cannot be replaced overnight.
Without IOLTA funding, more offices may close their doors, and those that are able to remain open will be forced to reduce staff and services. Those closures and losses of staff equate to the loss of hundreds of “first responders” for our fellow citizens.
This denial of justice to those in need affects all of us, not just legal aid clients. Court dockets are becoming clogged and delayed due to improper pleadings. Court house personnel, who cannot ethically give legal advice, are burdened with questions like “how do I do this” when they should be engaging matters within their duties.
Businesses are now subject to lawsuits that a qualified legal aid lawyer may have headed off. And many claims with merit are not being identified or are unable to be brought, allowing unfair and illegal practices to go unchecked.
When some citizens are denied access to justice, we all lose. Respect for our legal system diminishes and societal disaffection grows—further feeding distrust in the rule of law .North Carolina is better than this. Let us heed the following teaching given over two thousand years ago: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40 (ESV).
In this statement, Jesus identifies Himself with the vulnerable among us. Jesus is telling that when we render compassionate, tangible service to marginalized people we are rendering direct service to Him. Tell your legislators to remedy this tragedy now so that justice and righteousness flow again to all our citizens.
This article was co-written by a group of North Carolina legal leaders, including past N.C. Bar Association presidents John R. Wester of Charlotte, Henry Van Hoy of Mocksville, George Mast of Smithfield, Larry S. McDevitt of Asheville; Robin E. Hudson, associate justice of the N.C. Supreme Court (ret.), of Raleigh; Linda M. McGee, chief judge of the N.C. Court of Appeals (ret.), of Corolla; Julian Mann III, chief judge of the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings (ret.), of Raleigh; and Robert F. Orr, associate justice of the N.C. Supreme Court (ret.), of Burnsville.
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