[simple_tooltip content=’Commingling is a breach of trust in which a fiduciary mixes funds held in care for a client with their own funds, making it difficult to determine which funds belong to the fiduciary and which belong to the client.’]Commingling[/simple_tooltip] occurs when an attorney or law firm maintains operating or personal funds in a trust […]

In 2006, due to the increase in credit card fraud, the major credit card companies (VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express) decided to develop uniform standards that merchants must follow if they accept credit cards from clients.[1][2] These Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) are designed to ensure the security of your client’s [simple_tooltip […]

Upon entering into an agreement to represent a client, attorneys and law firms frequently ask for the client to pay money in advance for fees and costs.[1][2] In many states, attorneys refer to this advance payment as a “retainer”.[1][2][3] In other states, however, the term “retainer” is defined in the Rules of Professional Conduct as […]

An [simple_tooltip content=’Operating Retainer allow you to take and keep client funds in your operating account.’]operating retainer[/simple_tooltip] refers to funds received from clients that are deposited into the law firm’s operating account. A [simple_tooltip content=’A Trust Retainer is money that is given to the firm that needs to go into a separate escrow account where […]

Bank account balances, whether trust or business accounts, appear as assets on the balance sheet. The total amount of assets recorded on the left side of the balance sheet must always equal the total amount of equity and liabilities shown on the right side. When your firm deposits a client [simple_tooltip content=’A retainer fee is […]

Attorneys provide services to clients “on credit” because they generally don’t bill the clients until after they’ve actually provided the services. The danger for law firms is that they will do the work, but the client will refuse to pay the bill. If the bill was for a significant amount of legal fees and costs, […]

Many law firms require clients to pay an [simple_tooltip content=’An advance payment, or simply an advance, is the part of a contractually due sum that is paid or received in advance for goods or services, while the balance included in the invoice will only follow the delivery.’]advanced fee deposit[/simple_tooltip][1] or a [simple_tooltip content=’A security deposit […]

Trust accounts are known for having a large number of rules and regulations that lawyers must follow when managing them. With such a high bar for maintaining compliance, migrating a trust account from one bank to another is a lot more complicated than moving all the funds to a new account and closing the old […]