Legal Ethics
Lawyers' License Fee Checks Arouse Regulators' Suspicion
Lawyers who want to steer clear of ethics regulators should take note.
It’s not a good idea to pay your annual license fees with a check drawn on a lawyer trust account. But a dozen lawyers in Pennsylvania did just that, prompting immediate inquiries by the state disciplinary counsel, according to the E-Newsletter of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Disciplinary Board.
The newsletter elaborated in a footnote, calling the payments “the ethical equivalent of a ‘Please kick me’ sign.”
In addition, 87 lawyers paid with checks that bounced, four of which were still outstanding when the newsletter went to press. “Not smart,” the publication observed.
Hat tip to the Legal Profession Blog, which observed: “Couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried.”
