Rebuilding Client Trust
Wisconsin lawyers believe they all must help rebuild
the trust that is lost when one of their own breaks client trust in our
justice system.
by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director
TRUST IS AN IMPORTANT WORD TO LAWYERS. WE SEE manifestations
of it in terms from "trust account" and "trustee" to "confidentiality"
and beyond. Lawyers want, in fact need, their clients to trust them and
clients want and need to trust their attorney. The system breaks down
without it.
So what happens when that trust is broken? One avenue, of course, is
through the lawyer discipline system, the Office of Lawyer Regulation
(OLR). While that avenue can lead to punishing the lawyer who wronged a
client, it provides only some modicum of satisfaction to the client who
was harmed. Where does that leave the client who suffered a loss?
If the problem is lawyer theft, one answer is the Client Security
Fund. Every year when you pay your State Bar dues and Wisconsin Supreme
Court assessments, one of those assessments is for the Client Security
Fund. The current maximum assessment is $15 per lawyer. All lawyers must
pay into the fund, including government and in-house attorneys who do
not have trust accounts and even emeritus State Bar members who pay no
other dues or assessments.
The Client Security Fund is a fund of last resort. It provides
payments to victims of lawyer theft who have no other recourse, such as
malpractice insurance. The maximum payout per claim is $75,000 and there
is no limit to the maximum payout per attorney.
According to an August 2000 National Law Journal study of
data through 1998, Wisconsin is tied with the District of Columbia as
providing the eighth highest in the nation level of payout to victims.
Several of those states that provide higher payout levels cap the total
amount awarded per attorney. Many states pay out far less, one as low as
$5,000 per claim with an attorney maximum of $20,000.
Wisconsin's Experience. Since 1991, the Client
Security Fund Committee, which reviews claims and manages the fund under
Chapter 12 of the Supreme Court Rules, has paid out $1,557,137.20 to 281
claimants from 419 claims submitted. In the last two fiscal years, two
claims totaling in excess of $155,000 were approved but deferred for
payment in the following fiscal years because the fund had run out of
money. Of the total $1.56 million paid out, $805,939.97, or 52 percent,
was paid out in 1999, 2000, and 2001. Those same three years cover only
40 percent of all claimants considered and 45 percent of all claims
paid. The bottom line is that there were only a few bad apple attorneys,
but they generated very high claims.
Wisconsin's Client Security Fund provides restitution. But it does
more. It demonstrates to the victims that Wisconsin lawyers believe that
all lawyers are responsible for helping to rebuild the trust that is
lost when one of their own breaks the trust that is essential to our
justice system. In other words, Wisconsin lawyers put their money where
their mouth is.
Wisconsin Lawyer
