When managing client accounts, law firms must pay particular attention to the SRA Accounts Rules, especially Rule 3.3, which addresses the "Improper use of client account as a banking facility."

This rule is designed to ensure that client accounts are used appropriately, solely for the purpose of transactions related to the legal services being provided. The SRA continues to focus on this rule as it is regularly breached by firms and there have been some high-profile instances which have resulted in fines and sanctions. This is something we often comment on when we conduct SRA Accounts Rules audits for our clients and there are a few steps we would encourage law firms to take to minimise the risk of breaching rule 3.3.

1. Ensure there is a sufficient underlying regulated activity

The key word here is “sufficient”. It might not be enough simply to say that you’re still working for the client and therefore it is acceptable to continue to hold money in client account. For example, a firm held money on account of a conveyancing transaction which had since completed, and a small sum of money remained in client account. The client requested that the residual sum of money should continue to be held because they intended to enter into another purchase or sale. This was not permitted under rule 3.3 because work on the new conveyancing transaction hadn’t started.

2. Make all reasonable efforts to return money to clients

We see residual balances on old matters quite regularly and, generally speaking, firms are proactive in returning monies to clients at the end of a matter. Sometimes their efforts stall because the clients they are trying to reach have not responded and so the law firm might not know how or where to return the monies. We have seen various examples where firms have sent regular emails to clients, advising them that they’re holding money on account and requesting bank details to send it on to. Email isn’t the only form of communication! If clients don’t respond to multiple email attempts, the SRA will still expect the law firm to try other reasonable methods to contact them. This should include exhausting all details obtained during the initial KYC/AML checks that were carried out when the firm first engaged with the client: postal address (via driving licence, for example); landline and mobile number; search engine; LinkedIn etc. Law firms are known for being able to find difficult-to-trace people (for example in the case of Will bequests) so the SRA expects them to make reasonable efforts that extend beyond sending a few emails.