It seems like a pretty good day until the mail arrives. You get a letter from First Assistant Bar Counsel Frances Mickelson-Dera on behalf of the Statewide Grievance Committee, and you might think it’s the beginning of your worst nightmare. You’ve been selected for a random audit. Or rather, your Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA), often referred to as a clients’ funds account, has been selected. The audit team at the Office of the Statewide Bar Counsel, consisting of Mickelson-Dera and two accountants, will be calling on you soon. You go into a panic. What do you do now?
You know that you are obliged to register your IOLTAs with the grievance committee as part of the annual registration process. You also recall hearing that the committee regularly selects a certain number of those accounts for audit every year. But you never thought it could happen to you.
