President's Corner

by Charles S. McDowell, Esquire

This month I want to talk about two great examples of the spirit of the Delaware Bar – the recent Bench and BarBQ and Golf and Tennis Outing and this year’s Combined Campaign for Justice.

Congratulations and my great personal thanks to Heather Jefferson for her extraordinary efforts in putting together our first ever Bench and BarBQ and Golf and Tennis outing on September 29. We had a sold out crowd of 125 lawyer and judge golf and tennis participants at Fieldstone Golf Club and at Vicmead Hunt Club for an afternoon of fun followed by a BarBQ where lots of non-sports participants (and spouses) joined in. It was a terrific event on a wonderful fall day (following a rain out on September 15!) and perhaps the start of a new tradition.

Now with respect to a more serious matter let me give you an update on this year’s Combined Campaign for Justice. The recent historically low interest rates have been a great boon to homeowners refinancing mortgage loans. But they have created a crisis in funding for the providers of legal services to poor people in Delaware. However, I am happy to report that, once again, the Delaware Bar is demonstrating great leadership in addressing this problem.

Equal access to justice has been a priority in Delaware since 1946, when three prominent lawyers, J. Caleb Boggs, Collins J. Seitz and William Poole, founded the Legal Aid Society (which eventually became Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. - CLASI). Since that time, as the number of people living in poverty has increased, so has the organized effort to help those people address their significant civil legal needs. In 1981, the Bar Association launched Delaware Volunteer Legal Services to coordinate volunteer efforts of lawyers in private practice. In 1996, in response to federal mandates, the Legal Services Corporation of Delaware was born.

These nonprofit legal services providers serve thousands of Delawareans who face domestic violence, unlawful eviction, consumer fraud and other problems that threaten their personal safety, and the health, safety and stability of their families. Support for this work has come from a great variety of sources, but primarily from the Delaware Bar Foundation and DSBA fundraising (the Combined Campaign for Justice).

CLASI, DVLS and LSCD serve people whose income does not exceed 125% of the federal poverty guideline. For 2002, the federal poverty guideline for a family of 3 was $15,020. There are more than 95,000 people in Delaware whose income falls below 125% of the federal poverty guideline. That’s a lot of people to serve. During the year that ended June 30, 2003, CLASI, DVLS and LSCD actually assisted almost 17,000 people.

The Bar Association established the Delaware Bar Foundation in 1981 to provide funding for the provision of legal services to Delaware’s poor people. The Bar Foundation has accumulated and distributed funds to these agencies from the Interest On Lawyers’ Trust Accounts program (IOLTA). Since 1985, the Delaware Bar Foundation has granted more than $17 million of IOLTA funds to Delaware’s legal services providers for their work in bringing equal justice to people who are poor.

The Bar Foundation’s role as the primary funder for these legal services may be about to end. Historically low interest rates have caused a dramatic drop in IOLTA interest earnings. For example, in 1999, the Bar Foundation reported income of almost $1.5 million, but in 2003 the income is expected to be only $500,000.

During the fiscal year just ended June 30, 2003, the Bar Foundation invaded its reserves in order to provide $1.73 million to Delaware’s legal services providers. This amount represented about 50% of the total budget for CLASI, DVLS and LSCD. With the recent grants just made by the Bar Foundation for this current fiscal year, it has now exhausted its reserves.

The end result is that CLASI, DVLS and LSCD are facing a funding shortfall for this fiscal year of up to $700,000. Federal and State budget problems make it virtually impossible for the government to provide resources to fill the void. As a consequence, the leaders of the Combined Campaign for Justice stepped up their efforts in this year’s campaign by setting a goal of $500,000, 15% more than was raised last year. The Campaign Co-Chairs are rallying support from law firms and individual attorneys and judges as well as local businesses and foundations to answer this threat to equal access to justice for all Delawareans. The Bar Association has also established a special committee chaired by Steve Rothschild which has been working on other sources to solve the long term funding problem, including national private foundations and more State resources.

I am pleased to report that the response from the legal community thus far this year has been terrific. Five of the larger law firms increased their annual contribution to $20,000. In addition, the partners and associates in those law firms have donated their individual funds to raise the pledges from those firms to $30,000+ and in some instances in excess of $40,000. Because of this great support, and the support from over 850 individual gifts, the Campaign in September passed last year’s total so that the $500,000 goal is within sight. Moreover there was $125,000 contributed last year by persons who have not yet contributed this year. So if we just get the same support this year as those persons gave us last year, we will significantly exceed our 1000 contributor and $500,000 Campaign goals.

If you have not already made your contribution pledge this year, please send it now to Combined Campaign for Justice at P.O. Box 2113, Wilmington, DE 19899 or contribute online at declasi.org/campaign.html

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Charlie is a partner with Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP and he can be reached at (302) 984-6012 or cmcdowell@potteranderson.com

Return to October 2003 Table of Contents.