Lawyer Ethics & Credit Cards -Audio Webcast
March 2018
Lawyer Ethics & Credit Cards
Access Timely Topics and National Experts with CBA-CLE 1-Hour Audio Webcasts
Program Description
Use of credit cards for virtually every expense, large and small, has become commonplace, to the point where many lawyers now accept credit cards from clients. Credit cards may be used for fees, expenses, retainers or for other purposes. This concession to the larger reality of the market, however, raises many ethical questions. Can lawyers pass on credit card processing fees (which can be substantial on larger invoices) to clients? What happens if a client’s credit card company charges back fees? How does a lawyer maintain confidentiality when he or she has a dispute with a credit card company – or the client has a dispute with the credit card company? These and many issues arise when lawyers accept credit cards from clients. This program will provide you with a guide to ethical issues when credit cards are accepted and used in law practice.
- Ethical issues when clients use credit cards to pay attorneys’ fees, costs, and retainers
- Passing on credit card processing fees to clients – and related Truth-in-Lending issues and tax penalties
- Ethical issues when credit card companies chargeback funds paid to a lawyer or from a trust account
- Confidentiality when a client has a dispute with his credit card company – duties to client v. contract with credit card company
- Use of credit cards to fund a retainer and related trust fund accounting issues – trust funds v. operating funds
- Creditor claims against trust fund accounts
- Leftover client funds and proper trust fund accounting
Faculty:
Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections. For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation. Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
AUDIO WEBCAST INFORMATION:
Course materials are provided in PDF format to all audio webcast participants.
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You will receive a confirmation and instructions to listen to the audio-webcast via email upon registration.
ACCREDITATION INFORMATION:
Each Audio Webcast has been submitted for 1 (or 2) General CLE Credit(s). Courses with an Ethics Component have been submitted for Ethics Credits accordingly.
How to Register:
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Each program will run from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. M.T. (60 minutes each).
Registration Fees
| Non Member | $89.00 |
| CBA Member | $59.00 |
| CLE ELITE Pass Holders | $0.00 |
- General Credits: 1.00
- Ethics Credits: 1.00
- EDI Credits:
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Access Timely Topics and National Experts with CBA-CLE 1-Hour Audio Webcasts