3.  Relevant Legislation

The Legal Profession Act [the Act], the Law Society Rules [the Rules] and the Code of Professional Conduct [the Code] all contain definitions and rules about a lawyer’s financial obligations and accountability for accurate and timely trust accounting.

The Act, the Rules and the Code are intended to ensure that:

  •  all clients’ money and valuable property in the possession of a law firm is properly safeguarded;
  • the law firm always keeps all client money in trust separated from the general money used to operate the law firm;
  • the law firm has a proper record keeping system in place which provides contemporaneous details of all trust and general transactions;
  • at all times, the law firm has a complete and current permanent record for all financial transactions on each client matter;
  • the law firm creates a permanent audit trail with supporting documents, which can be seen by the Law Society at any time.

REMEMBER

It is important to understand and follow the Law Society rules in division 4: Financial Accountability.

Rule 5-56: Failure to comply with any of the rules in this division without reasonable excuse may constitute professional misconduct.