COVID-19 has had a negative impact on many aspects of society and law, including the ability of the Connecticut Bar Foundation to provide legal aid funding to organizations that serve low-income clients.

The foundation, which is the largest funder of legal aid in Connecticut, is allowed under the rules of the state judicial branch to receive certain increases in court fees. But court closures amid the coronavirus pandemic means the judicial branch will likely see a steep drop in fees collected in 2020 from such areas as initial filing fees and out-of-state attorneys seeking to appear in Connecticut.

And this in turn will likely leave legal aid underfunded.

Attorney Natalie Wagner, executive director of the foundation, said Thursday the nonprofit received $13.2 million in revenue from court fees in 2017, $12.9 million in 2018, $12.9 million in 2019 and budgeted for $12.8 million this year.

But this year's funding may fall as much as 28%, or about $9.25 million, Wagner said.

"That means we'd lose about $3.6 million that would normally go to legal aid providers," she said.

That projected loss, Wagner said, will have a spiral effect: the organization's inability to "serve the neediest among us," Wagner said. "And that population is growing much faster because of COVID."

In normal times, Wagner said, legal aid providers such as Greater Hartford Legal Aid and Connecticut Legal Services, help people with issues related to housing, food and employment, all which are magnified during the current crisis.

"Legal aid providers help tens of thousands of Connecticut residents at no cost," Wagner said. "When an individual loses or is denied access to basic human necessities and also denied an attorney, it makes it very difficult for them to retain or obtain those necessities."

The foundation's 2020 budget, Wagner said, is a little more than $19 million of which $17.7 million are awarded in grants to its grantees.

Foundation member Joette Katz, a former state Supreme Court justice and current chairwoman of the Connecticut Law Tribune Editorial Board, said, "The foundation is particularly needed in these times. People need the comfort of a sound legal system and that's what we are here to do."

Attorneys can do their part by offering to donate their time. They can use the Connecticut Bar Association pro bono training portal to get started, Wagner said. Attorneys, along with the general public, can also donate money to the foundation to support legal services, which will then pass on the funds to its 11 grantees, or legal aid organizations.

A large part of the nonprofit's funding also comes from administering the interest earned on Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts, or IOLTAs. Wagner said the foundation gets all of the interest generated from IOLTA accounts because the state's judicial branch selected the foundation to administer the IOLTA program more than a dozen years ago. The foundation received more than $20 million from the IOLTA interest in 2007, a year before the recession. In 2019, that number was just $4.8 million.

Wagner said attorneys can also consider helping in another way: Putting a request into their banks regarding IOLTA programs.

"Attorneys can reach out to their banks and let them know they are grateful for the IOLTA programs as not all banks participate," Wagner said, "We'd ask those attorneys to ask their banks to raise the IOLTA rates to the extent they are capable, and in doing so, letting those banks know it will help low-income people in need that the foundation helps support."

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