Recent amendments to the Law Society Act, 1999 clarifies that remittance of interest on lawyers’ trust accounts to the Law Foundation shall not deduct administration and service charges imposed by a bank, trust company. Specifically, section 69(3) states:

“A member or professional law corporation shall not deduct administration and service charges imposed by a bank, trust company or other depository approved by the board from the amount referred to in subsection (1).”

This change may necessitate an update to the financial institutions holding your General Trust Accounts. To facilitate this process, the Law Foundation has revised Form LF1 which must be completed by the member, firm or professional law corporation that maintains a General Trust Account and forwarded to their financial institution(s) clarifying the treatment of administrative and service charges related to the account.

A copy of the revised Form LF1 is attached, and available on the Law Foundation and Law Society websites. Please ensure that you complete and submit this form to your financial institution(s) no later than February 28, 2022 to allow for any changes to be implemented on a timely basis.

Law Foundation – form LF1 2022