New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

LEGAL PROFESSION UNIFORM LAW APPLICATION REGULATION 2015 - REG 15

15 Receipt of trust money by barrister--section 166 (2) (d) of the application Act

(1) The purpose of this clause is to provide for the receiving or holding of money by or on behalf of a barrister as contemplated by section 133 of the Uniform Law.

(2) Trust money may be received and held by a barrister on account of legal costs for legal services in advance of the provision by the barrister of the legal services in the following circumstances:

(a) the barrister is practising as a sole practitioner and the money is received in connection with instructions accepted by the barrister directly from a person who is not a solicitor,

(b) the barrister maintains an account with an ADI for the sole purpose of holding trust money received in connection with the barrister's law practice (the
"trust money account" ),

(c) the barrister notifies the Bar Association of the following within 14 days of opening the trust money account:

(i) the name of the ADI with which the trust money account has been opened,

(ii) the date on which the trust money account was opened,

(iii) the account number of the trust money account,

(d) the money is deposited in the trust money account as soon as practicable after the barrister receives the money,

(e) the money remains deposited in the trust money account until:

(i) a bill is given to the client, or

(ii) the money is refunded to the client, or

(iii) the money is paid to a solicitor who is later engaged by the client in the matter,

(f) the trust money account does not have, or is not linked to, any credit or mortgage facility, including (but not limited to) a line of credit, overdraft facility or mortgage offset facility,

(g) the barrister provides to the person from whom the money is received, as soon as practicable after that money is received, a written receipt by the barrister on which is recorded the following:

(i) the date the receipt is made out,

(ii) the date the money was received,

(iii) the amount of money received,

(iv) the name of the person from whom the money was received,

(v) particulars sufficient to identify the purpose for which the money was received,

(vi) the circumstances in which the money may be paid from the trust money account,

(h) the barrister appoints a person who is qualified to be appointed as an external examiner under the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 to carry out an annual examination, for the period 1 April to 31 March, of the trust money account and provides to the Bar Association a copy of the examination report (in a form approved by the Bar Council) not later than 7 June following the end of that period.

(3) A copy of a receipt provided by a barrister under subclause (1) (g) must be kept by the barrister at least until the end of the period of 7 years from the date of the receipt or until the completion of the matter in relation to which the receipt was issued, whichever occurs later.

(4) An examination of a trust money account of a barrister under this clause is not required to be carried out until the end of the year ending on 31 March 2017.

(5) The examination must also cover any period after the commencement of this Regulation and before 1 April 2017 during which the account existed and is also to apply to any account existing during that period that was kept by the barrister under clause 16.