Thank you for visiting my fundraising page for the Campaign for Equal Justice. Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts for legal aid.  All you need to do is click your cursor on the Give Now button and then follow the easy steps.  If you prefer to send a check, make the check payable to "Campaign for Equal Justice" and mail it to my office PO Box (provided at the end of this email).

Hundreds of thousands of jobs are vanishing every month.  Evictions are epidemic, cars are becoming homes and families are dissolving.  More people are indigent, and more indigent people need the assistance of lawyers on issues of housing and personal safety.  Interest earned on attorney trust accounts and real estate escrows (known collectively as IOLTA Accounts) makes up a significant  portion of the money available to fund indigent and low income civil legal services.  With our current recession and economic crisis, IOLTA revenues have been halved and the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates on IOLTA Accounts (and others) to essentially zero.  As a result of substantially increased need and significantly diminished revenues, the ability of the civil legal aid system to deliver services has been decimated at the worst possible time.

A 2003 study by the Task Force on Civil Equal Justice Funding, created by our Supreme Court, found that more than 75% of low income households in WashingtonState face at least one civil legal problem annually and the problem often involved an issue of "basic need," including housing and personal safety.  The study also found that 85% of the problems were faced without the benefit of legal assistance and that women and children were disproportionately affected.  Due to the decimated funding which we currently face, civil legal services in our State are in a crisis bordering upon a catastrophe.  IOLTA revenues in 2007 were $9,179,877.  In 2008, they were reduced to $4,691,500.  It is projected that in 2009, they will be reduced further to approximately $2,000,000.  This could well destroy the entire infrastructure of our State's civil legal aid system.

It is imperative that we raise money to enable our civil legal aid system to ride out this crisis and to continue to be able to provide legal services to the indigent and the low income citizens of our State, in this time of their greatest need.  Attorneys are working to not only provide free legal services, but also to raise money to help make up the shortfall.  $2,000,000 per year over the next three years is, at a minimum, what is needed.  Contributions to the Campaign for Equal Justice from attorneys, alone, are not enough.  We need our clients, former clients, associates, colleagues, family and friends to help.  Even a $50 contribution, if from enough people, can make a huge difference.  If that is too much, any lesser contribution would be beneficial.  For those who can afford it, a contribution of $100 or more to the Campaign for Equal Justice would get us to our goal even more quickly.  Your donations are tax deductible. 

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Sincerely,

Steve

Law Office of Steven G. Toole, PS

PO Box 50008

Bellevue, WA 98015