Vol. 6, No. 2, Pg. 29. 23 Years of Public Service and Professional Progress.

• Author: By John C. von Lehe Jr.

South Carolina Lawyer

1994.

Vol. 6, No. 2, Pg. 29.

23 Years of Public Service and Professional Progress

2923 Years of Public Service and Professional ProgressBy John C. von Lehe Jr.Quick--name an organization that over the past six years as made 209 grants totaling $11.3 million to support law-related services for the public in South Carolina.

Nope. It's not United Way or the Annenberg Foundation.

Need some help? Okay.

Clue No. 1: The organization is closely affiliated with the South Carolina Bar.

Clue No. 2: It recently published a history of the South Carolina Bar and its leaders from the colonial period to the present.

Still stumped?

Clue No. 3: It maintains a fund to assist lawyers who become permanently disabled and impoverished.

If your answer was the South Carolina Bar Foundation (Foundation), you were correct. If you got the right answer after one or two clues, this brief article should stimulate your interest. If you missed the answer, even after the final clue, this article should be mandatory reading.

Foundation Basics

The Foundation was incorporated in 1971 as a charitable and educational corporation to assist the Bar in providing law-related services to the public and improving the profession. The organization is managed by a 12 member board of directors. Nine directors are elected for three year terms by the Bar's Board of Governors. The Bar president, president-elect and the chair of the House of Delegates are ex officio directors of the Foundation Board.

Located on the first floor of the Bar building in Columbia, the Foundation operates with two full time staff members: Executive Director Samuel M. Pierson III and Financial Assistant/Office Manager Anne S. Trice.

The IOLTA Fund

Under a rule adopted by the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1985 and amended in 1986, the Foundation administers the Interest On Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program. The rule authorizes lawyers and law firms to convert their traditional, pooled, non-interest bearing client trust and escrow accounts into special interest-bearing NOW accounts. Participating banks sweep the interest earned on IOLTA accounts, deduct service charges and fees if applicable and forward the net amount to the Bar Foundation. Participation by lawyers and banks is voluntary, although lawyers who elect not to participate normally notify the Foundation in writing within...