The Court's order allows lawyers to convert their general pooled trust checking accounts into NOW accounts, which bear interest. That interest is sent by financial institutions around the state to law-related public service projects and programs to improve the administration of justice in Mississippi. All this happens without upsetting the way lawyers administer their trust accounts. Lawyers maintain the confidential, fiduciary attorney-client relationship regarding the deposit and serve their profession and the public by making the interest earned on their trust accounts available to support needed and worthwhile public service projects.
Attorneys routinely receive funds to be held in trust or escrow for future use.
If these funds are large in amount or are to be held for a long period of time, the attorney deposits them in a separate interest bearing account in the name of and for the benefit of the individual client. However, deposits which are nominal or held for a short period are usually commingled in a non interest-bearing checking account, because it is impractical to place them at interest for the individual client's benefit. Such funds remain idle until disbursed. The confidential, fiduciary relationship between you and your clients remains unchanged, and there are no new records to keep. Just as in the past, the decision of whether client funds are nominal in amount or are to be held for a short period of time will rest in the sound judgment of each lawyer.