NEW Lawyer Trust Account Overdraft Rule

List of Approved Trust Account Depository Institutions

Guidelines for Approval of Financial Institutions to Serve as a Depository for Lawyer Trust Accounts

Earlier this year, significant changes were proposed to Rule 1.15 of the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct dealing with Lawyer Trust Accounts.  The proposed amendments were twice put out for comment to the members.  Several improvements were made as a result of numerous comments received.  In August, the amended rule was submitted to the Wyoming Supreme Court with a recommendation for its adoption.  On September 7, 2016, the Court issued an order adopting the proposed amendments effective October 1, 2016.

As a result of these amendments to Rule 1.15, Wyoming becomes the 47^th state in which financial institutions holding Lawyer Trust Accounts are required to notify disciplinary counsel when a Lawyer Trust Account becomes overdrawn.  The new rule provides that lawyers maintaining a trust account in accordance with the rule shall be deemed to have consented to reporting of Lawyer Trust Account overdrafts to the Office of Bar Counsel.  On October 3^rd, you will receive an e-mail from Sharon Wilkinson, Executive Director, inviting you to access your license fee statement online. Your statement will contain a provision to similar effect.

In addition, the new rule requires all financial institutions holding Lawyer Trust Accounts to have an Overdraft Notification Agreement on file with the Wyoming State Bar.  Prior to the Court’s adoption of the amended rule, the Bar made contact with the several dozen financial institutions holding Lawyer Trust Accounts in Wyoming advising them of the pending rule change and seeking their input as to the contents of the Overdraft Notification Agreement.  Once the rule change was adopted by the Court, and after implementing changes suggested by several financial institutions, the final Overdraft Notification Agreement was mailed to all financial institutions holding Lawyer Trust Accounts with a request that it be signed and returned by October 1, 2016.

A number of financial institutions have signed and returned the Overdraft Notification Agreement, and the Bar is following up with those which have not yet done so.  If we have not received a signed Agreement from the financial institution holding your Lawyer Trust Account by the time you submit your Annual License Fee Statement, we may seek your assistance in urging your bank to sign and return the Agreement.  In the meantime, we encourage you to contact the financial institution holding your Lawyer Trust Account and ask if the institution has an Overdraft Notification Agreement on file with the Bar.

Thank you in advance for your kind attention to this matter.  Any questions should be directed to Mark Gifford, Bar Counsel, at (307) 432-2106.

ORDER AMENDING RULE 1.15 OF THE RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT FOR ATTORNEYS AT LAW

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