The Connecticut Bar Foundation has reported that charitable funds from Connecticut’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts and Interest on Trust Accounts (IOLTA/IOTA) declined sharply in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on markets, reducing the amount of available funding to support access-to-justice programs across the state.

In all, revenues dropped by 36 percent, the foundation said in its 2020 annual report, noting that the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates in response to the worldwide public-health crisis. With the use of reserves, the CBF was able to limit the decrease in overall grant payments to less than 16% in an effort to assist a growing population of people who qualified for services. The CBF also noted that the decline in IOLTA revenues is unlikely to improve in the near future.