MPRE — Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam — All Questions

Under Model Rule 1.15, a lawyer who receives funds belonging to a client must:

• a.Keep them in cash in the office safe
• b.Deposit them in the lawyer's personal account for convenience
• c.Keep them in a separate trust account✓
• d.Use them immediately to cover firm operating expenses

Rule 1.15(a) requires client property to be held "separate from the lawyer's own property," with funds "kept in a separate account." Using, commingling, or keeping client money in cash violates the rule.

Where must a lawyer ordinarily maintain the client trust account under Model Rule 1.15(a)?

• a.In the client's home state.
• b.In the office's state, absent consent.✓
• c.In the state where the case is pending.
• d.In any state the lawyer chooses.

Rule 1.15(a) requires funds to be "kept in a separate account maintained in the state where the lawyer's office is situated, or elsewhere with the consent of the client or third person."

A client asks her lawyer for an accounting of the funds the lawyer has held for her. What does Rule 1.15(d) require?

• a.A prompt, full accounting whenever the client asks.✓
• b.An accounting only if a court orders one.
• c.An accounting only at the end of the representation.
• d.A yearly statement, but not on request.

Rule 1.15(d) requires the lawyer, "upon request by the client or third person," to "promptly render a full accounting regarding such property."

A lawyer serves only as an escrow agent in a real-estate sale and gives no legal advice to anyone. Which law governs his handling of the escrow funds?

• a.The law of fiduciaries, not Rule 1.15.✓
• b.No law, because no legal services were given.
• c.Rule 1.15 only.
• d.Rule 1.8, business transactions with clients.

The comment to Rule 1.15 says "a lawyer who serves only as an escrow agent is governed by the applicable law relating to fiduciaries even though the lawyer does not render legal services in the transaction and is not governed by this Rule."

A lawyer holds settlement funds; the client disputes the lawyer's fee. May the lawyer keep all the funds until the client accepts the lawyer's fee?

• a.Yes, if the fee agreement allows it.
• b.No, because the lawyer must pay the client everything.
• c.Yes, because the lawyer has a lien on the whole recovery.
• d.No, because only the disputed portion may be held.✓

The comment to Rule 1.15 says "a lawyer may not hold funds to coerce a client into accepting the lawyer's contention"; the disputed portion stays in trust and "the undisputed portion of the funds shall be promptly distributed."

Why does Rule 1.15(b) allow a lawyer to keep some of the lawyer's own money in the client trust account?

• a.To earn interest for the lawyer.
• b.To pay the account's bank service charges.✓
• c.To cover client checks that bounce.
• d.To pay the lawyer's malpractice premiums.

Rule 1.15(b) permits depositing the lawyer's own funds "for the sole purpose of paying bank service charges on that account, but only in an amount necessary for that purpose."