It’s the dog days of August. The Orioles are in first place. Training camps for the Ravens and the Commanders are in full swing. Many lawyers and court staff are on vacation. The press of litigation and deadlines has waned.
The summer slowdown has thus become an ideal time for lawyers to focus on some overdue administrative tasks. These tasks include calendaring important dates, terminating representation for clients whose cases have ended, ensuring that the IOLTA account has been reconciled, and more.
Completing these tedious activities helps us comply with the Maryland Attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct.
There is no specific ethics rule on calendaring. However, Maryland Rules 19-301.1 (Competence) and 19-301.3 (Diligence) require proper office procedures, including calendaring. Disciplinary opinions are littered with cases about lawyers who have failed to appear for court dates, failed to respond to discovery, missed expert disclosure deadlines and/or statutes of limitations, and/or failed to close out estates.
For example, in Atty. Griev. Comm’n v. Brown, 426 Md. 298 (2012), Brown was disbarred for several violations, including Rules 1.1 and 1.3, when two of his clients’ medical malpractice cases were dismissed for failure to prosecute and for his failure to respond to two motions to dismiss.
Many of these errors are easily avoided by simple calendaring and implementing a system to review files. I also suggest regularly checking the docket on open litigation and estate matters.
With so much electronic communication, it is unfortunately easy for matters to get lost among so many emails. Those of us who practice in Baltimore are particularly familiar with some of the difficulties experienced in switching the circuit court over to MDEC.
After addressing the administrative needs of open files, I suggest turning to terminating the attorney client relationship and closing out old files in cases that are completed. Termination is governed by Maryland Rule 19-301.16. Terminating representation, closing out files, and document disposal at the end of cases takes time, but is necessary.
A good system is one which meets the requirements of the rule. When a case ends, close the case. A good time to do this is when handling the final bill for a case.
Send a letter to the client letting them know the case is over. Return all original documents. Consider scanning your file and saving it to the cloud. Currently, files should be kept for five years after closing a case. Then, issue the final bill, pay yourself any funds that are in your IOLTA account, and remit the balance to the client.
When closing out the financial side of a file, remember that client funds, or IOLTA accounts, are governed by Maryland Rule 19.301.15 and Maryland Rules 19-400 to 414. As required by these rules, at the close of a case, lawyers should account for the funds, remit client funds to the client, and pay themselves the fees earned from the IOLTA account.
Under Rule 19-408 and 19-301.15(b) and (d), if the lawyer leaves funds belonging to the lawyer in the IOLTA account, it is considered commingling. This includes the amount owed to the lawyer in fees when the money is in the IOLTA account. Under Rule 1.15(d), such funds should be transferred “promptly.”
It’s a lot more fun to spend the summer thinking about the pennant race, the beach, or the upcoming football season. But don’t forget to attack those tedious tasks that are often left to linger. Clear them off your plate, and let’s get ready for some October baseball.
Craig Brodsky is a partner with Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann LLP in Baltimore. For over 25 years, he has represented attorneys in disciplinary cases and legal malpractice cases, and he has served as ethics counsel to numerous clients. His Legal Ethics column appears monthly in The Daily Record. He can be reached at csb@gdldlaw.com.
This article originally appeared in The Daily Record on July 31, 2024.
Goodell DeVries defends various professionals in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, including lawyers and law firms. Many of these cases are ethics matters involving Bar Counsel. If you have questions about the above or are a Maryland lawyer facing discipline, please contact us at EthicsHelp@gdldlaw.com.
