New Hampshire Bar Foundation’s IOLTA Grants Program awards New Hampshire Legal Assistance $1,250,000 to provide civil legal aid
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2026
Concord, N.H.— New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA) was recently awarded $1,250,000 from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Grants Program to provide civil legal aid to low-income Granite Staters. NHLA’s work focuses on housing, domestic violence, and public benefits access.
IOLTA Grants are funded by interest from pooled trust accounts maintained by New Hampshire attorneys. Under New Hampshire Supreme Court Rule 50, adopted in 1982, attorneys use these accounts to hold “clients’ funds which are nominal in amount or to be held for a short period of time.” The interest on these pooled trust accounts, which is too small to be readily paid to individual clients, is remitted to the New Hampshire Bar Foundation. The Bar Foundation distributes it primarily for the purpose of making civil legal aid available to disadvantaged Granite Staters. New Hampshire’s banking community has provided enduring support to the IOLTA Grants Program through the favorable interest rates they offer on IOLTA accounts.
“IOLTA Grant funding helps NHLA provide free legal services to thousands of Granite Staters in cases impacting their safety, housing, and economic stability,” said NHLA Executive Director Sarah Mattson Dustin. “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.”
# # #
About New Hampshire Legal Assistance
New Hampshire Legal Assistance is a nonprofit law firm working to make justice a reality for and with people who experience economic hardship that threatens their basic human needs. Through representation and systemic advocacy, NHLA offers civil legal aid that addresses the effects and root causes of poverty. More information about NHLA can be found at www.nhla.org.