FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Recent action by the Alabama Supreme Court could lift the state from its bottom ranking in providing services to people who qualify for free legal assistance in civil cases.

“Alabama ranks behind all states, D.C. and Puerto Rico in meeting the civil legal needs of the poor,” said Sam Crosby, a Daphne attorney and current president of the Alabama State Bar. “A recent survey showed less than 20 percent of those needs were being met in the state.”

Starting in January, all Alabama attorneys currently in private practice in the state must certify that money held for clients in bank trust accounts be part of a system that uses interest from those accounts to support legal aid to the poor and similar projects.

Before the state Supreme Court adopted the new rule in September, the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) was a voluntary system. Once the rule becomes effective next year, Alabama will become the 35th state in the county to have a mandatory IOLTA program, Crosby said.

The change from optional to mandatory participation in the program will significantly increase the amount in grants made each year, said Tracy Daniel, executive director of the Alabama Law Foundation, the nonprofit group in Montgomery that manages IOLTA funds.

“Last year we provided about $875,000 in grants to support these programs,” Daniel said. “In the years to come, we expect that amount could double.”

Daniel pointed to legal needs involving child custody and consumer protection issues as some of the cases the funding will support.

“Courthouse doors should not be closed on any Alabama citizen just because they can’t afford an attorney,” she said. “We all should have a right to have our day in court.”

The increase in IOLTA funds will provide greater assistance to the main statewide organization providing legal aid in non-criminal cases, said Jimmy Fry, executive director of Legal Services Alabama.

“All offices in the state were combined into one several years ago,” Fry said. “We now have 10 offices with 55 lawyers and 10 paralegals. We opened 8,000 cases last year, but for every client we serve, there are 10 to 20 people eligible for our services.”

Fry said that in the 1970s, legal services provided assistance to approximately 15,000 clients a year, but in the 1980s federal funding was reduced, offices were closed and the number of clients served cut almost in half.

“But for the last two years, there have been increases in funding from Congress,” he said.

Fry said the rule change was the result of several groups in the state working together.

Crosby agreed and said the Alabama State Bar, the Alabama Law Foundation and the Access to Justice Commission established by the state Supreme Court, all played important roles in getting the rules of attorney conduct amended to make IOLTA participation mandatory.

Daniel said there are 15,400 attorneys licensed in Alabama but only those in current private practice have trust accounts that generate interest for legal assistance and other programs.

“Taken alone the amounts may not seem large,” Crosby said. “But when you multiply it by that many total accounts, it’s a substantial sum.”

Crosby said that attorneys and judges have a professional duty to support legal aid for indigent residents, and that the Alabama Board of Bar Commissioners voted unanimously in July to change the law, setting the stage for the Supreme Court’s action two months later.

“You want a system of justice that treats people fairly,” he said. “Without a lawyer, you are not on an even playing field in many situations.”