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Proposed | amendment to Rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct regarding safekeeping property (comments due by April 20, 2012)
Virginia State Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics Is Seeking Public Comment on a Proposed Amendment to Rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct
Pursuant to Part Six: Section IV, Paragraph 10-2(C) of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia State Bar’s Standing Committee on Legal Ethics (“Committee”) is seeking public comment on a proposed amendment to Rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
view proposed rule (PDF)
RULE 1.15
The Committee proposes an amendment to Rule 1.15 to clarify that all funds held by a lawyer on behalf of others must be held in a trust account, while other property should be held in a safe deposit box or other place of safekeeping. As written, the Rule currently could be read to permit a lawyer to keep client funds in a safe deposit box rather than in a trust account. The amendment also replaces the word “monies” in Comment [1] with the word “funds,” in order to make Comment [1] consistent with the Rule and other comments.
Inspection and Comment
The proposed amendments may be inspected at the offices of the Virginia State Bar, 707 East Main Street, Suite 1500, Richmond, Virginia 23219-2800, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Copies of the proposed amendments can be obtained from the offices of the Virginia State Bar by contacting the Office of Ethics Counsel at 804-775-0557, or can be found at the Virginia State Bar’s website at http://www.vsb.org/pro-guidelines/index.php/rule_changes/.
Any individual, business, or other entity may file or submit written comments in support of or in opposition to the proposed amendments with Karen A. Gould, the Executive Director of the Virginia State Bar, not later than April 20, 2012.
Updated: January 26, 2012