The Florida Bar Foundation

Legal assistance for The poor:in 2021-22, approved grant awards included children's legal services, community economic development, two-year equal justice works fellowships, disaster relief for hurricane sally, andstudent loan forgiveness to 200+ attorneys at legal aid organizations. In addition, The engle grant program provided funding to qualified legal aid organizations in The middle district of Florida to assist litigants in obtaining representation in court. We also awarded funds to be used to retain or hire personnel to provide direct legal assistance to low-income clients for legal issues caused by or directly related to The covid-19 pandemic. Other 2021-22 projects included: 1) coordinating and partially subsidizing online legal research services to legal assistance grantees at a significantly reduced rate, with The Foundation facilitating centralized billing for a statewide contract with international legal research firm westlaw; and 2) continued partial subsidies to grantees for an online case management system (legal server) funded and implemented by The Foundation in 2008 to improve The administration of day-to-day casework and related activities of their lawyers and paralegals. This case management system provides grantees The data and communication needed to manage cases, track outcomes, and report to funding sources. The Foundation's statewide contract with legal server effectively reduces The cost to grantees and makes The service available to some who could not otherwise afford a computerized case management system.

Law student assistance:the Foundation approved funding for The Florida state university college of law for eliminating economic barriers for immigrant and farmworkers and to nova southeastern university shepard broad college of law.

Improvements in The administration of justice:in 2021-22, approved grant awards included continued funding for The Florida innocence project, which works to exonerate floridians for crimes they did not commit and to Florida's children first, which works to improve The child welfare system.

Pro bono partnerships: "pro bono" roughly translates to "for The good of The public and generally encompasses lawyers representing, at no charge, persons who cannot otherwise afford to hire an attorney. The Florida Bar Foundation's pro bono department was a hub and connector between law firms, law schools, The judiciary, legal aid programs, and other stakeholders to increase awareness of and create pro bono opportunities. During The year, The Foundation provided support and funding to The Florida pro bono coordinators' association to expand pro bono efforts and opportunities and create further partnerships. The Foundation expanded floridaprobonomatters.org, an online referral system that enables lawyers to search for and take pro bono cases across multiple legal aid organizations. For The second year, The Foundation also facilitated The Florida pro bono law school challenge, which matches law students from all 12 Florida law schools with lawyers to work on client cases hosted by Foundation grantees.