What must a lawyer do with a client's funds?

A lawyer is required to safekeep and hold a client's funds separate from the lawyer's own funds to ensure the integrity and availability of those funds for the client. This principle is crucial to preserve the trust that clients place in their attorneys and to avoid any possible conflicts of interest or misuse of client funds. By keeping client funds in a separate trust account rather than commingling them with personal or business assets, the lawyer mitigates the risk of misappropriation and ensures that the client's money will be available when needed, such as for payment of fees or expenses owed to third parties, or to return the funds to the client.

Maintaining this separation of funds is also a critical component of the professional responsibility required by state bar rules, which aim to uphold ethical standards in the legal profession. The requirement to safekeep client funds in a trust account reinforces the importance of accountability and transparency in the handling of funds entrusted to a lawyer.