Trust Accounting and Credit Card Payments (2/3/25)

Starting Your Solo Practice: Trust Accounting and Credit Card Payments

Managing client funds is a basic component of maintaining your solo practice. However, statistics show that year after year, mishandling a client’s money is among the most frequent sources of investigation and disciplinary action by the ARDC. For lawyers who want to stay out of trouble, the first line of defense is to understand the provisions of Illinois’ safekeeping of property rule (Rule 1.15) and the record-keeping required by the rule. This seminar will provide a detailed explanation of the key principles in the rule (including relevant past revisions) and the requirements regarding IOLTA and unidentified funds. The program will look at how to use basic accounting techniques to manage a client trust account and comply with the record-keeping requirements of Rule. 1.15. We’ll also examine the ethical considerations of accepting credit cards and other forms of electronic payments from clients. 

Speaker: 
Mary F. Andreoni is Ethics Education Counsel for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) where she develops and implements the ARDC’s ethics education initiatives, including the ARDC Ethics Inquiry Program and the Illinois Professional Responsibility Institute, where she is also an instructor. She has authored several articles including the ARDC publication, Client Trust Account Handbook, and spoken at hundreds of programs on legal ethics. Prior to joining the Commission, Ms. Andreoni was law clerk to Illinois Appellate Court Justice Mel R. Jiganti and later practiced commercial litigation with the law firm of Peterson & Ross in Chicago. While in practice, she also served as a board member on the ARDC Inquiry and Hearing Boards. Active in the Chicago Bar Association (CBA), she has served on a number of committees and is past chair of the CBA Professional Responsibility Committee (2014-2015). Ms. Andreoni received her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago.

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