Pisgah Legal’s bind: IOLTA funding freeze leaves nonprofit’s leader uncertain
Pisgah Legal Services offers representation in civil court for people experiencing a wide variety of issues.
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Nonprofits that provide legal services are calling for North Carolina’s General Assembly to unfreeze funds necessary to their operations. In Western North Carolina, Pisgah Legal Services is one of the most crucial entities that represent people in need who find themselves in civil litigation. Now, some of those services may be in jeopardy.
The Bill of Rights entitles criminal defendants to legal representation; however, there’s no federal or state law saying someone is entitled to such representation in civil court. This is why services provided by the likes of Pisgah Legal are so vital. Many who need to consult with the nonprofit’s attorneys are in court for things that can happen to just about anyone: evictions, foreclosures and disputes over medical debts.
Pisgah Legal receives a sizable chunk of money from the North Carolina Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts fund. When attorneys take payment handing a case, the money goes into a pool, IOLTA, the interest from which is divvied out to programs like Pisgah Legal, as decided by a board.
In June, the House and Senate voted in favor of SB 429, the “Public Safety Act,” which included a provision to put a hold on IOLTA funds.
Legal Aid of North Carolina, the hardest hit nonprofit providing such services in the state, estimates that 8,000 fewer clients will get service after it cuts 45 jobs and closes or consolidates nine offices across the state. While the impacts of the funding freeze won’t be felt at Pisgah Legal until 2026, its ability to help clients will likewise take a significant hit, with CEO Jackie Kiger noting that the nonprofit may serve up to 5,000 fewer people if that money isn’t unfrozen.
“It’s devastating and frustrating, because the money is there,” Kiger said. “It’s just frozen, and people who need our services are going to suffer.”
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At an Oct. 22 hearing, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Harry Warren (R-Rowan) expressed concern that some of the recipients of IOLTA funds are going to “groups with leftist ideologies.”
“These dollars are helping the most vulnerable people in Western North Carolina — seniors, veterans, children, people living with disabilities, domestic violence survivors and their children,” Kiger said when asked about Warren’s statements. “We have been doing this work for decades. This is critical, essential work. We are operating within the law. We are following, of course, every single regulation around how funding can be used. We are not a political entity.”
Kiger said that Pisgah Legal had been a longtime recipient of IOLTA funding.
“When I say that, I mean for decades,” Kiger noted.
Where other funding has come and gone, IOLTA has been stable and has consistently filled gaps in budgets to maintain continuity of services.
Along with representing people with standard civil cases seen in any state courthouse in the country, Pisgah Legal Services has also played a significant role in the wake of Hurricane Helene to make sure people properly navigated complicated FEMA and insurance protocols.
“How do we serve people with the needs that we’ve seen before, and then you add on new needs like FEMA and homeowners insurance issues with repairing and rebuilding?” Kiger said. “And more people are now in poverty because they lost their nest egg or the little bit of a savings they had because of Helene?”
Although the direct effects of the funding freeze won’t hurt Pisgah Legal until next year, Kiger said they are already scaling back in anticipation of the blow.
“We should be adding staff right now because of Helene, and we’re not,” Kiger said. “And we’re going to need to look at raising money from other sources to at least sustain and maintain the staff we have, because our demand for services, it’s just not stopping.”
Kiger said that if funding gaps end up large enough, Pisgah Legal may be in a position to close offices, lay off staff and ultimately serve less of the community.
“And we’ve actually laid off staff for the first time this year because of that uncertainty with our budget, although that has to do with Medicaid,” Kiger said. “But it all is coupled together. Like if we knew what our [IOLTA] grant would be for 2026, we would be able to plan accordingly for our staffing and our budget.”
Kiger said she and others at Pisgah Legal have been urging lawmakers to understand the impact and “irreparable harm” the freeze may do to the region. The situation is dire and time sensitive, she added. Pisgah Legal has served Western North Carolina since 1978 with what Kiger called a clear mission that hasn’t changed. As the dark clouds of uncertainty approach, she said the nonprofit will continue to strive toward fulfilling that mission.
“We are helping low-income people with their meet their most basic needs through civil legal aid, services and advocacy,” she said. “That’s what we do. That’s what we will continue to do.”
(Anyone interested in using the nonprofit’s services or helping out can visit pisgahlegal.org or call 828.253.0406.)
