Rhode Island lawyers will have to channel the interest generated by their clients’ short-term trust accounts into a program that provides legal services for the state’s poor, the state Supreme Court has decided.

The Rhode Island Bar Association and its charitable arm, the Rhode Island Bar Foundation, petitioned the state Supreme Court in September to make the change to the rules of professional conduct, arguing there was a dire need to increase legal services for the poor during the economic downturn.

Previously, lawyers had been able to “opt out” of the program since it was created by the Supreme Court, in 1985. About 35 percent of the state’s roughly 3,600 eligible lawyers — those in private practice — chose not to participate.

The program relies on interest — often only pennies — accrued in accounts held a day or two for clients, such as for real estate closings. That interest is given to the foundation, which distributes grants to organizations dedicated to providing legal services to disadvantaged Rhode Islanders, promoting knowledge of the law or improving the administration of justice and delivery of legal services.

The high court last Thursday also approved the bar association’s request that lawyers be required to keep the trust accounts in banks that offer the same interest rate for the short-term trust accounts as others.

The changes make Rhode Island the 39th state, including Connecticut and Massachusetts, to make contributions to the foundation mandatory. All eligible Rhode Island lawyers have 90 days to comply. Lawyers do not have to notify the clients of the contributions under the rules.

Some in the legal community have objected, saying it was unfair to put clients’ money toward a foundation.

“Let us do it with our own money,” lawyer John D. Lynch Sr. argued during a hearing on the matter last month.

The Rhode Island Bar Foundation has awarded more than $12 million in grants since the program began. This year’s recipients of a total of $1.6 million in grants included Rhode Island Legal Services; the International Institute of Rhode Island, which provides free immigration legal services to foreign-born residents; the Rhode Island Bar Association Legal Information and Referral Services for the Elderly and the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

kmulvane@projo.com