New Hampshire Legal Assistance Gets $1.25M IOLTA Grant For Civil Legal Aid

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire Legal Assistance has been awarded $1,250,000 from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts Grants Program.

The money will fund civil legal aid for low-income Granite Staters, with the NHLA’s work focusing on housing, domestic violence, and public benefits access.

The funding comes through the IOLTA Grants Program, which is supported by interest from pooled trust accounts maintained by New Hampshire attorneys. Under New Hampshire Supreme Court Rule 50, adopted in 1982, attorneys use those accounts to hold “clients’ funds which are nominal in amount or to be held for a short period of time.” According to officials, interest from the pooled trust accounts is remitted to the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, which distributes it primarily to make civil legal aid available to disadvantaged Granite Staters.

New Hampshire’s banking community has supported the IOLTA Grants Program through favorable interest rates on IOLTA accounts. NHLA said the grant will help fund free legal services for low-income residents in civil cases tied to basic needs.

“IOLTA Grant funding helps NHLA provide free legal services to thousands of Granite Staters in cases impacting their safety, housing, and economic stability,” NHLA Executive Director Sarah Mattson Dustin said. “We simply could not accomplish our work without it. We are proud to continue our partnership with the New Hampshire Bar Foundation and New Hampshire’s banking community. We are deeply grateful for their unwavering dedication to ensuring equal access to justice.”

New Hampshire Legal Assistance is a nonprofit law firm that represents low-income people and older adults in civil cases affecting basic needs. Those cases primarily involve housing issues including eviction, foreclosure and property tax deedings, as well as domestic violence and family law matters such as protective orders, divorce, and parenting rights and responsibilities. The organization also handles public benefits matters including disability and unemployment cases.

NHLA has offices in Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Manchester and Portsmouth, according to the release.