Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Do I need the Society's permission to open a new Law Practice Trust Account?

No, you are required pursuant to section 46 of the Legal Profession Regulation 2007 (LPR) to notify the Society within 14 days that you have opened a new trust bank account. The notification should include the name of the ADI, Branch, account number and account name of the new trust account.

All new trust bank accounts opened after 1 July 2007 (pursuant to subsection s33(2) of the LPR must:

  1. be kept with an approved ADI;
  2. be kept within this jurisdiction (Queensland);
  3. include within the name of the account the name of the law practice or business name under which the law practice engages in legal practice;
  4. include within the name the expression “law practice trust account” or “law practice trust a/c”.
An ADI is defined in the Dictionary in Schedule 2 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (LPA) as an authorised deposit-taking institution within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959(Cwlth).

Section 237 of the LPA definies “approved ADI” to be an ADI approved by the Queensland Law Society (QLS) under section 280 of the LPA.

A list of Approved ADIs can be accessed on the Queensland Law Society website on the trust account page.

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