Bøger af Michael Trittipo

At various times in history and various places, lawyers or their counterparts have been frowned upon, even prohibited from being paid for their help. This was the case at various times in the Roman Empire, and even in some of the colonies in North America before the American Revolution. Fortunately, such prohibitions have generally not lasted long. It is widely accepted that lawyers should be paid fairly for the help they provide. Indeed, lawyers may ask for money "up front." But doing so comes with an accompanying obligation: to be able to tell clients what was done with the money; to give an account of it.The details of that obligation in Minnesota today are defined by Rule 1.15 of the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct ("MRPC"). It is supplemented by an "Appendix 1," issued every year by the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board ("LPRB"). You should re-read both documents every year; they change from time to time. Appendix 1 is subject to annual revision, and Rule 1.15 was most recently amended in the fall of 2015.Those two documents tell you what records you must keep, but mostly do not say how. That is this guide's purpose: to explain how you can keep the required records, in this guide's case by using an online subscription service called TrustBooks.

Every lawyer in Minnesota who holds any money of clients or third persons in connection with a representation must deposit the money in one or more identifiable trust accounts, and must maintain certain records about those trust accounts, and be able to produce them at any time. Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.15 ("MRPC") details the obligations. Rule 1.15 is supplemented every year by an "Appendix 1," written by the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board ("LPRB"). Those two documents tell you what records you must keep, but mostly do not tell you how. Nor, our new lawyer members every year tell us, do the law schools provide any training on how to keep trust accounts. This guide is meant to show how you can meet your obligations using the "Trust Accounting Software" ("TAS") module in Tabs3. Other ways exist, and other software programs. The Minnesota State Bar Association ("MSBA") has authored guides for several. One reason for adding a guide for Tabs3 lies in the fact that Tabs3 as a whole offers more than just trust accounting. It includes practice and case management, too. More and more lawyers are using such integrated programs. But the Tabs3 help materials for its trust accounting modules tend to be focused at a very low level, and do not give a good overview beginning at the "big picture" level, but with step-by-step instructions. This guide intends to fill that gap.