Coltaf Report-income Tops One Million Dollars
| Publication year | 1990 |
| Pages | 1049 |
| Citation | Vol. 19 No. 6 Pg. 1049 |
1990, June, Pg. 1049. COLTAF Report-Income Tops One Million Dollars
April 30, 1990---ten months into its fiscal year---the Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation ("COLTAF") reached a milestone: Interest income to COLTAF totaled $1,023,367.
A big thank you and congratulations go to the 7,171 Colorado lawyers whose 3,052 client trust accounts provide the basis for this income.
Equally to be commended are the 344 Colorado financial institutions which cooperate with their attorney customers and COLTAF to pay the interest directly to COLTAF. The majority of these institutions also help COLTAF by waiving or minimizing fees and service charges on these accounts. These banks and savings institutions are contributing significantly to their communities and helping to provide legal services to the disadvantaged.
At this pace, grants for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1990, will total approximately $1 million, even with operating expenses and a reserve for contingencies. This is almost double the total of the prior year. The next fiscal year, which will be the first full year of the mandatory program, should see even further gains.
So that you can get an idea of what COLTAF is all about, its Board of Directors offers this interim report of COLTAF's history and recent activities. A formal annual report will be published following the close of our fiscal year, June 30, 1990.
COLTAF was established in 1982 to help fund organizations that meet one or more of these purposes:
to assist in providing legal services to the disadvantaged;
to improve the delivery of legal services;
to promote knowledge and awareness of the law in the community; and
to improve the administration of justice.
COLTAF receives the interest earned on pooled client trust accounts where the funds are so nominal in amount or are expected to be held for such a short period of time that it is not practical to earn or account for interest on the individual deposits. Prior to the inception of COLTAF, these pooled trust accounts earned no interest. Now the interest, paid directly to COLTAF by financial institutions throughout Colorado, funds many important law-related charities.
From fiscal years 1984 through 1989, COLTAF disbursed almost $2 million to Colorado's civil legal services programs, bar association pro bono (volunteer) programs, and other non-profit organizations with law-related projects.
In April 1989, the Colorado Supreme Court acted favorably on a request from COLTAF and the Colorado Bar Association to convert COLTAF from a voluntary program to a mandatory program.
Effective October 1, 1989, all client...
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