Utah Bar Foundation

• Publication year: 1994
• Pages: 46
• Citation: Vol. 7 No. 6 Pg. 46

Utah Bar Foundation Vol. 7 No. 6 Pg. 46 Utah Bar Journal July, 1994

June, 1994

Utah Bar Foundation and IOLTA

Despite the fact that it has existed since 1963, the Utah Bar Foundation remains something of a mystery to many Utah attorneys. Likewise, although the IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts) program has existed since 1983, it still seems to be poorly understood by many members of the Bar.

One persistent source of confusion seems to be the relationship between the Utah Bar Foundation and the Utah State Bar Association. Although all Utah attorneys are automatically members of the Bar Foundation, the Foundation and the Bar Association are two separate, distinct entities with different governing bodies and entirely different purposes. Likewise, the Utah Bar Foundation is a separate entity from the Utah Law and Justice Center Foundation.

The Utah Bar Foundation is governed by its seven trustees, who are pictured above, not the Bar Commission, and its purposes are (1) to promote legal education and increase knowledge and awareness of the law in the community, (2) to assist in providing legal services to the disadvantaged, (3) to improve the administration of justice, and (4) to serve other worthwhile law-related public purposes.

The Foundation carries out these purposes primarily by making grants of funds collected through the IOLTA program. That program was created in Utah in 1983 by the Utah Supreme Court's decision in In the Matter of Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts, 672 P.2d 406 (Utah 1983). Through the court's decision, attorneys' trust...