The Florida Bar Foundation has suspended its Law Student Assistance Grant Program temporarily due to severely reduced revenue from Florida’s Interest on Trust Accounts (IOTA) Program. The Foundation intends to restore its funding of law student assistance grants when IOTA revenue rises to pre-recession levels.
“Unfortunately, when we are forced to cut funding to our legal aid grantees, who in turn are having to cut staff attorney positions, it just doesn’t make sense to put resources into programs that encourage law students to pursue public interest law careers,” said Maria Henderson, chair of the Foundation’s Legal Assistance for the Poor Grant Program. “Right now we are doing all we can to preserve legal aid funding.”
The 1983-84 grant year marked the start of the Foundation’s Law Student Assistance Grant Program. Since then the Foundation has funded various projects to promote public interest and pro bono activities among law students and in their subsequent legal careers. Among those projects are the Legal Aid Summer Fellows Program, Public Service Fellows Program and the Law School Civil Clinic Grant Program.
The Children & Youth Law Clinic at the University of Miami is one of 10 law school civil clinics in Florida that has been receiving $25,000 annual grants from the Foundation.
Bernard P. Perlmutter, associate clinical professor and director of the clinic, said the Foundation’s support has helped pay attorney salaries, litigation and other expenses, and has funded the publication of client “know your rights” manuals. For the past six years, the clinic has shared its grant with the law school’s Health and Elder Law Clinic.
“The suspension of Civil Clinic grant funding comes at a time when our school’s budget is being cut back due to declining tuition revenues,” Perlmutter said. “We’re also budgeting for the anticipated 20 percent reduction in our Bar Foundation children’s legal services grant. Fortunately, our law school and its dean strongly support the advocacy performed by our student interns on behalf of the clinics’ clients and will make up for the lost Bar Foundation funding. But these funding cuts remind us how vulnerable the legal services community, including law school clinics, is to the volatile national economy, and these losses are ultimately borne by our clients who rely on the essential services that we provide in ensuring their access to justice.”
Thanks to a generous gift from the law firm of Fowler White Boggs, The Florida Bar Foundation will be able to support one summer fellow in 2012. Monica Jordan will be the 2012 Florida Bar Foundation-Fowler White Boggs Diversity Summer Fellow at the Legal AidThe 1983-84 grant year marked the start of the Foundation’s Law Student Assistance Grant Program. Since then the Foundation has funded various projects to promote public interest and pro bono activities among law students and in their subsequent legal careers. Among those projects are the Legal Aid Summer Fellows Program, Public Service Fellows Program and the Law School Civil Clinic Grant Program.
The Children & Youth Law Clinic at the University of Miami is one of 10 law school civil clinics in Florida that has been receiving $25,000 annual grants from the Foundation.
Bernard P. Perlmutter, associate clinical professor and director of the clinic, said the Foundation’s support has helped pay attorney salaries, litigation and other expenses, and has funded the publication of client “know your rights” manuals. For the past six years, the clinic has shared its grant with the law school’s Health and Elder Law Clinic.
“The suspension of Civil Clinic grant funding comes at a time when our school’s budget is being cut back due to declining tuition revenues,” Perlmutter said. “We’re also budgeting for the anticipated 20 percent reduction in our Bar Foundation children’s legal services grant. Fortunately, our law school and its dean strongly support the advocacy performed by our student interns on behalf of the clinics’ clients and will make up for the lost Bar Foundation funding. But these funding cuts remind us how vulnerable the legal services community, including law school clinics, is to the volatile national economy, and these losses are ultimately borne by our clients who rely on the essential services that we provide in ensuring their access to justice.”
Thanks to a generous gift from the law firm of Fowler White Boggs, The Florida Bar Foundation will be able to support one summer fellow in 2012. Monica Jordan will be the 2012 Florida Bar Foundation-Fowler White Boggs Diversity Summer Fellow at the Legal Aid Service of Broward County. Jordan is a first-year law student at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center. Service of Broward County. Jordan is a first-year law student at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center.
