The Florida Bar Foundation.

The President's Message

This annual report recounts the Foundation's work during 2001-02 in awarding grants of more than $11.7 million. The chief beneficiary of our grantmaking continues to be the poor persons and families served by Florida's network of civil legal assistance organizations serving all 67 Florida counties. The goal of these grants is to support at least minimum access to justice. The Foundation, with assistance from Bar members on the annual Bar Fee Statement, also supports special initiatives such as the Children's Legal Services grant program. This program provides legal advocacy and representation to uphold children's legal rights to educational and other services--services put into place to promote their growth into productive adults.

Of course this brief description and listing of our legal assistance grants cannot paint the full picture of the Foundation or the impact of the significant leadership of our volunteers and staff in Florida's legal assistance community. Whether through substantive and financial support of the important effort to make Florida's system for delivering legal assistance more effective, our on-site grantee evaluation program, our efforts to promote leadership development in the legal assistance community, or programs such as loan repayment assistance which makes public service employment possible for today's law graduates, the Foundation is working to help make the promise of equal access to justice a reality in Florida.

A second area of Foundation grants supports projects to improve the administration of justice in Florida. Although this is a small grant program, it's often the only source of funds in many counties for local courts, bar associations and other groups to rest ways to make the justice system more responsive to the people it's pledged to serve. Because this discretionary grant program generally is limited to demonstration projects or seed money, it's been aptly referred to as one of the few sources of venture capital for the justice system.

We also use our funds to promote the concept of public service to law students through the Legal Services Summer Fellowship and Public Service Fellows programs. The feedback we have received from those programs is positive both in terms of the organizations served and the growing commitment by law students to use their legal skills to assist the less fortunate.

A disappointment this year was that falling interest rates prevented us from realizing a greater result from the amendments to the IOTA rule. passed by the Florida Supreme Court in June 2001. The amendments required parity treatment in rates for IOTA accounts and permitted government money market accounts, in addition to sweep accounts and interest checking accounts, for IOTA funds. Of course, the lower interest rates have made our fundraising efforts even more critical to maintaining stability in Foundation grants. So, when a Foundation director or other volunteer asks you to become a Foundation Fellow or support our mission in other ways, I hope you'll say yes.

However, an absolutely singular achievement during the year was one in which the Foundation played only a supporting role. But, this project proved that only with big vision and big goals do we achieve great results. Then Florida Bar President Terry Russell set what some may well have called an audacious goal of securing ten million dollars in state funds for civil legal assistance in Florida. It turned out that ten million was out of reach, but Terry's vision, energy and leadership led to passage of the Florida Access to Civil Legal Assistance Act, the first time the Florida Legislature had appropriated state funds for civil legal assistance. Two million dollars were appropriated for pilot projects in seven judicial circuits. This funding brought the state into partnership with others who have long supported civil legal assistance--most notably the thousands of Florida attorneys who give generously each year of their time and money.

Finally, I am very proud of the fact that each year there are far more Florida Bar members seeking appointment to the Foundation's board of directors than there are openings to fill. That's not because of the perks or lavish meeting sites--three times a year we meet at airport hotels for two days and in June at the site of the Bar's annual meeting, we hold our annual dinner and awards presentations. What drives that interest in working with the Foundation is a commitment to helping people in need, to the belief that people should not be denied access to legal assistance simply because they lack the financial resources and, most important, to a solemn recognition of the truth of Alexander Hamilton's statement that, "The first duty of society is to justice."

DARRYL M. BLOODWORTH

President, 2001-02

RELATED ARTICLE: The Florida Bar Foundation Mission Statement

The mission of The Florida Bar Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by Florida lawyers and the Supreme Court of Florida, is to provide greater access to justice. The Foundation will accomplish its mission primarily through funding of programs which:

* Expand and improve representation and advocacy on behalf of the poor in civil legal matters;

* Improve administration of the institutions of justice;

* Provide financial assistance to students for the study of the law and

* Promote service to the public by members of the legal profession by making public service an integral component of the law school experience.

Grants for Legals Assistance for the Poor The Foundation's Legal Assistance for the Poor (LAP) grant program, supported primarily by IOTA funds, provides general support grants to a network of organizations providing free civil legal services to the poor. Together, this network provides at least basic access to the justice system for low income individuals and families residing in every county in Florida. LAP grants also support legal assistance for specific client services and to serve specific client groups. In fiscal year 2001-02, the Foundation awarded 39 grants for general support of legal aid organizations serving every Florida County: (1) American Friends Service Committee $111,030.00 Central American Political Asylum Program Miami (2) Bay Area Legal Services $607,162.00 Tampa (3) Brevard County Legal Aid $72,387.00 Rockledge (4) Central Florida Legal Services $458,845.00 Daytona Beach (5) Clearwater Bar Foundation $32,740.00 Cleanwater (6) Community Law Program $42,817.00 St. Petersburg (7) Cuban American Bar Association $28,479.00 Pro Bono Project (Administered by Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center) Miami (8) Dade County Bar Association $323,474.00 Office of Public Service-Volunteer Lawyers Miami (9) Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center $638,035.00 Miami (10) Florida Institutional Legal $217,126.00 Services Civil Legal Assistance Project Gainesville (11) Florida Justice Institute $312,343.00 Miami (12) Florida Legal Services $1,561,737.00 Tallahassee (13) Florida Rural Legal Services $673,859.00 Lakeland (14) Florida State University College $5,000.00 of Law Pro Bono Project Tallabassee (15) Greater Orlando Area Legal Services $212,098.00 Orlando (16) Guardianship Program of Dade County $56,958.00 Miami (17) Gulfcoast Legal Services $457,487.00 St. Petersburg (18) Heart of Florida Legal Aid Society $96,190.00 Bartow (19) Jacksonville Area Legal Aid $360,527.00 Jacksonville (20) Lee County Legal Aid Society $48,176.00 Fort Myers (21) Legal Aid Foundation of the $32,151.00 Tallahassee Bar Association Tallahassee (22) Legal Aid Service of Broward County $449,653.00 Ft. Lauderdale (23) Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach $434,760.00 County West Palm Beach (24) Legal Aid Society of the Orange $416,272.00 County Bar Association Orlando (25) Legal Aid Society of Collier County $32,095.00 Naples (26) Legal Aid Society of Manasota $16,506.00 Sarasota (27) Legal Services of Greater Miami $582,119.00 Miami (28) Legal Service of North Florida $419,087.00 Tallahassee (29) Northwest Florida Legal Services $228,804.00 Pensacola (30) Nova Southeastern University/ $5,000.00 Shepard Broad Law Center Ft. Lauderdale (31) Okaloosa County Legal Aid $22,652.00 Shalimar (32) Seminole County Bar Association $54,331.00 Legal Aid Society Altamonte Springs (33) Southern Legal Counsel $209,731.00 Gainesville (34) St. Thomas University School of Law $5,000.00 Immigrant Families Assistance Project Miami (35) Stetson University College of Law $5,000.00 Combined Civil Clinics St. Petersburg (36) Three Rivers Legal Services $324,466.00 Gainesville (37) University of Florida College of $5,000.00 Law Virgil Hawkins Civil Clinic Gainesville (38) University of Florida College of $5,000.00 Law Children and Youth Law Clinic Miami (39) Withlacoochee Area Legal Services $259,098.00 Ocala Total $9,823,195.00 Foundation Legal Assistance for the Poor Grants Support a Wide Variety of Pro Bono Services by Members of The Florida Bar

Pro bono hours donated by members of The Florida Bar through organized pro bono programs in 2001 represented 20% of all cases--nearly 19,000--closed by Foundation legal aid grantees. Foundation funds primarily support the intake and referral of cases to pro bono volunteer attorneys and to provide such volunteers with backup support and training.

While much of the time donated by pro bono attorneys was in family law cases, there is a wide variety of pro bono service opportunities for Florida attorneys. To name just a few:

*Transactional attorneys helping community groups...