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Keeping It Clean with the Green: Trust Accounting Dos and Don'ts
Original Program Date :
Program Summary:
Trust account problems remain one of the top reasons attorneys are disciplined in the US. Certainly, there have been and will continue to be attorneys whose trust accounting activities are egregious and, in some situations, criminal. However, this does not account for all of the problems. Far too often, an attorney was less than diligent about maintaining proper and appropriate financial practices in the office and things simply got out of hand. This program will start with a discussion of trust accounting basics, then go on to address common missteps lawyers make and share office best practices to help attorneys stay on the right path.
A Sampling of Attendee Takeaways:
- An explanation of the basics of setting up and maintaining a client trust account
- An awareness of the importance of attorney oversight of client property coupled with the details of how to accomplish this.
- An understanding of the common missteps that others make.
- How a misunderstanding of banking terms and practices can lead to problems.
Program Materials: A 10 page set of materials will be made available to program attendees.
Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq., Risk Manager, ALPS
Since 1998, Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq., has been a Risk Manager with ALPS, the nation’s largest direct writer of lawyers’ malpractice insurance. In his tenure with our company, Mr. Bassingthwaighte has conducted over 1200 law firm risk management assessment visits, presented over 600 continuing legal education seminars throughout the United States, and written extensively on risk management, ethics, and technology. Mr. Bassingthwaighte is a member of the State Bar of Montana as well as the American Bar Association where he currently sits on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility’s Conference Planning Committee. He received his J.D. from Drake University Law School.
