A decade-long battle to prevent interest generated from law firm trust accounts going to civil legal aid has been lost in the US Supreme Court. The landmark case, Brown vs Legal Foundation of Washington State, ruled that around $160m (£104m) of law firm trust account interest payments should continue to be given by state authorities as legal aid to poor plaintiffs.
The case had originally been brought by two Washington state real estate developers who objected to interest from law firm trust accounts being used to fund legal aid.
