Court Opinion

ID: 9791315
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:08:50.917892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:35.372441
License: Public Domain

FELDMAN, Vice Chief Justice,,
specially concurring.
I concur in the result and in the views expressed by Justice Moeller. I write separately to express my views on the so-called “bookkeeping system” used by this respondent. Respondent testified that he threw away the “chits” — little pieces of paper on which he made notations about funds received — and was therefore unable to render an account of his clients’ funds, as required by the former rules. See DR 9-102(B), former Rule 29(a), Ariz.R.Sup.Ct., 17A A.R.S. (hereafter Rule_).
As I see it, he would have been unable to render an adequate account even if he had kept the chits and claimed they had served to refresh his memory. The rule he was charged with violating, DR 9-102(B)(3), required an attorney to maintain “records ” of all client funds in his possession and to render an appropriate “account” to the client regarding those funds (the present equivalent is Rule 43(a)). Such records should comply with generally accepted accounting principles or, at least, bookkeeping standards. While lawyers need not be skilled accountants, they are charged with the responsibility of maintaining records that will enable them to account for client funds in a businesslike manner. Attorneys lacking knowledge in bookkeeping or accounting should retain a bookkeeper or accountant to set up a proper system of accounting for their office.
Slips of paper on which notations are made that may serve to refresh the recollection of the lawyer some years after the event do not qualify as records or books of account. In the future, I will take the position that lawyers who cannot produce acceptable ledgers, journals, or other recognized books of account will have failed to comply with the current requirements of ER 1.15, Rule 42. More importantly, they will have failed to comply with Rule 43, the Trust Account Guidelines of the State Bar of Arizona adopted pursuant to Rule 43(d), and Rule 44. Not having acceptable records of clients’ funds is, without more, grounds for summary suspension under the present rules. See Rule 43(g).