2026 Law Firm Leaders Letter to Governor Hochul Regarding IOLA funding to legal services organizations

February 17, 2026

By Email

Hon. Kathleen Hochul Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Hochul,

We write as the leaders of large law firms in New York to ask you to include full spending authority for the Interest on Lawyer Account (IOLA) Fund in your forthcoming 30-day amendments to the SFY 2027 Executive Budget. IOLA is a key component of funding civil legal services provided to low-income citizens of New York. As private firms we do not benefit directly from IOLA. Rather, civil legal aid organizations that receive IOLA funds train, mentor and supervise our attorneys, who then provide hundreds of thousands of hours of pro bono service to low-income New Yorkers, who are screened and referred to us by these organizations. Without the civil legal aid organizations that receive IOLA funds, we simply cannot provide the same level of pro bono services in the State.

As currently proposed, the Executive Budget does not grant IOLA the full $102.5 million in spending authority requested by the IOLA Fund; it instead would create a devastating shortfall of $25 million. To be clear, IOLA funds are not drawn from taxes paid by New Yorkers but instead are sourced solely from interest or dividends earned by qualified client funds held by attorneys in New York in unsegregated interest-bearing or dividend-bearing accounts at banking institutions. As the applicable regulations stipulate, IOLA funds are collected “to provide funding for providers of civil legal services in order to ensure effective access to the judicial system for all citizens of the State and to provide stable, economical and high-quality delivery of civil legal services to the poor throughout the State.” 21 N.Y.C.R.R. § 7000.1.

IOLA funds are distributed as grants to nearly 100 civil legal aid organizations across the State, allowing them to employ lawyers and other professionals to provide a broad array of free legal services in diverse areas, including housing, family law and public benefits. In brief, IOLA is essential to maintaining stability in New York’s civil legal services delivery system and ensuring that low-income New Yorkers continue to receive the assistance they need during a period of unprecedented demand.

The proposed Executive Budget creates a shortfall of $25 million in the authorized spending authority needed to fully meet the IOLA Fund’s request, which is part of a five-year commitment to its grantees. This midstream gap in funding for civil legal aid organizations would result in job losses, diminished services for vulnerable communities, and the unraveling of carefully planned innovations—directly undermining the policy goals your budget seeks to advance.

We respectfully ask you to address this issue in the 30-day amendments by providing IOLA with the full appropriation authority required to honor the IOLA Fund’s multiyear commitments. Doing so will provide the funds necessary, in the words of the regulation, “to provide stable, economical and high-quality delivery of civil legal services to the poor throughout the State.”

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

  • Adam Hakki, U.S. Chair

  • Dave Lewis, U.S. Co-Managing Partner

  • Doreen Lilienfeld, U.S. Co-Managing Partner

  • Sean Skiffington, Co-Head of the Social Impact Group

  • A&O Shearman

  • Kenneth Abell, Partner

  • Abell Eskew Landau LLP

  • Abid Qureshi

  • Partner & Co-Chair

  • Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

  • James Sullivan

  • Partner in Charge, New York Office

  • Alston & Bird

  • Michael Daneker & Ellen Fleishhacker

  • Global Co-Chairs

  • Arnold & Porter

  • Scott Brandman Managing Partner, New York Office

  • Baker McKenzie

  • David Brodsky

  • Brodsky Arbitration

  • Vincent Gugliemotti

  • Chief Executive Officer

  • Brown Rudnick LLP

  • Charles Scibetta

  • Partner

  • Chaffetz Lindsey LLP

  • Gregory Klamrzynski, Chief Executive Partner

  • Kelley Bender, Chief Operating Partner

  • Chapman and Cutler LLP

  • Jeffrey D. Karpf

  • Managing Partner

  • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

  • Ness M. Cohen

  • Office Managing Partner – New York

  • Clifford Chance US LLP

  • Ian Shapiro

  • Partner in Charge - New York & Litigation Department Chair

  • Cooley LLP

  • Douglas G. Gibson

  • Chair

  • Covington & Burling LLP

  • Michael J. Heller Executive Chairman and CEO

  • Cozen O'Connor'

  • Philip T. Inglima

  • Chair, Management Board

  • Crowell & Moring LLP

  • Peter A. Furci Presiding Partner Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

  • Salvatore Franco New York Managing Partner

  • Dentons US LLP

  • Mike Ferrara

  • Partner

  • Hecker Fink

  • Sarah Solum US Managing

  • Partner

  • Freshfields

  • Olga Lucia Fuentes-Skinner

  • Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes LLP

  • Anthony McCusker, Chair

  • Mark Bettencourt, Managing Partner

  • Goodwin Procter

  • Neil J. Oxford

  • Chair

  • Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

  • Sam Danon

  • Managing Parter

  • Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

  • Anthony S. Barkow

  • Managing Partner, New York

  • Jenner & Block LLP

  • Stacey Friedman

  • General Counsel

  • JPMorgan Chase & Co.

  • Marc E. Kasowitz

  • Managing Partner

  • Kasowitz LLP

  • Rob Steiner

  • New York Office Managing Partner

  • Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP

  • Ira Coleman

  • Chairman

  • McDermott Will & Schulte

  • Jami McKeon, Chair of the Firm Megan Bell and Brian Herman, Co-Office Managing Partners (NY)

  • Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

  • Eric T. McCrath, Chair

  • Michael Birnbaum, Managing Partner, New York Office

  • Morrison & Foerster LLP

  • Bradley J. Butwin, Chair Ross B. Galin, New York Office Head

  • O’Melveny & Myers LLP'

  • Mitchell Zuklie

  • CEO

  • Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

  • Dahlia Doumar

  • Co-Chair and Managing Partner

  • Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

  • Scott A. Barshay

  • Chairman

  • Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

  • William G. Malley

  • Managing Partner

  • Perkins Coie LLP

  • Timothy W. Mungovan

  • Chairman

  • Proskauer Rose LLP

  • Julie Jones

  • Chair

  • Ropes &Gray LLP

  • Steven R. Schindler

  • Founding Partner

  • Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP

  • Lucantonio Salvi

  • Chair of the Executive Committee

  • Sheppard

  • Madeleine McDonough

  • Chair

  • Shook, Hardy & Bacon

  • Nancy Chung

  • Managing Partner of the New York Office

  • Sidley Austin LLP

  • Alden Millard

  • Chair

  • Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

  • Jeremy London

  • Executive Partner

  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

  • Robert Giuffra Jr. and Scott Miller

  • Co-Chairs Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

  • Thomas Cole, Chair

  • Amie Colby, Managing Partner

  • Nicholas David, New York Office Managing Partner

  • Troutman Pepper Locke, LLP

  • Matthew T. McLaughlin |

  • Partner-in-Charge of the New York Office

  • Venable LLP

  • Anne L. Clark

  • Vladeck Raskin Clark PC

  • Barry Wolf

  • Executive Partner

  • Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

  • Matthew Feldman

  • Chairman

  • Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

PDF