Amendment of Rule 1.15 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct

Summary

This document amends Pennsylvania Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15 to establish procedures for remitting unclaimed or unidentifiable funds held in Pennsylvania IOLTA accounts to the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board. It also addresses refunds, claims, potential reimbursement by the Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security, lawyer liability protection for good-faith compliance, recordkeeping, and reasonable efforts to locate owners.

Holdings

1. When a lawyer or law firm cannot, using reasonable efforts for at least two years, identify or locate the owner of funds in a Pennsylvania IOLTA account, the lawyer or law firm must pay the funds to the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board and provide the information and documentation specified by Rule 1.15(v)(1).
2. If the owner of remitted funds is later identified and located, the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board must refund the funds to the lawyer or law firm for return to the owner; the Board must also review claims when the original remitting lawyer or law firm is unavailable and maintain a sufficient reserve to pay claims.
3. The Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security may seek reimbursement from qualifying unclaimed funds remitted to the IOLTA Board when it pays an award to a former client, but reimbursement may not exceed the amount remitted by the subject lawyer, law firm, or deceased lawyer.
4. A lawyer is not liable in damages or deemed to have breached a fiduciary duty or responsibility solely as a result of good-faith adherence to the unclaimed or unidentifiable IOLTA fund requirements.

Questions Presented

1. What procedures govern unclaimed or unidentifiable funds held in a Pennsylvania IOLTA account?
2. What duties, records, and protections apply to lawyers and law firms remitting such funds to the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board?

Disposition

other