Attorney Sammy Sleaze has a law practice. He has an operating account and a trust account. He needs money so he decides to take money from the trust account and put it in his operating account. Can he do this

Respuesta :

Answer: He CANNOT

Explanation:

The Trust Account of a law practice is an account that holds the money of the clients of the practice. It is not the money of the practice and is held on retainer most likely. There are therefore strict rules around the money in Trust accounts.

One such rule is that Attorneys should not mix the money in the Trust account with that of the Law practice's or withdraw money from the account for the use of the practice which is what Sammy Sleaze just did.

There are instances where the Attorney can withdraw from the account for the practice such as if it is for work done by the attorney and the relevant invoice has been sent or if the Attorney needs to be reimbursed for fees paid on behalf of clients. Neither of these happened so Sammy Sleaze was wrong to withdraw the money.