Cash and worry


I read with interest the article on client account, 'In safe hands' (see [2007] Gazette, 22 March, 22).



It referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority's statistic that almost one in five misconduct allegations made against lawyers relates to breaches of the accounts rules. It appeared to infer solicitors have hands-on experience of recording their day-to-day transactions in the books of accounts. In my experience of more than 23 years in cashiering, I have not heard of many practices where the solicitor does this.



As chairwoman of the Institute of Legal Cashiers & Administrators (ILCA), and also a senior legal cashier at a medium-sized practice in Kent, I was dismayed there was no mention of the legal cashiers, bookkeepers, account clerks - whatever the title - who usually deal with the daily postings of transactions relating to office and client accounts.



Yes, the buck does stop with the partners, but the accounts department is a focal point of all firms. The staff may be very competent, but not all are properly qualified. They may have learnt the job 'parrot fashion' from a predecessor and are not aware of working within the parameters of the Solicitors Accounts Rules, especially if their only guidance is from a partner who may have limited accounting experience. The cashier appears to be performing well but could be breaching rules daily. This is one scenario where solicitors intending to misappropriate client funds play on vulnerable accounting staff.



ILCA has been in existence for 29 years and has a membership of around 2,800, striving to help legal cashiers/administrators become qualified in their field. Over the last year, we have been in consultation with Law Society President Fiona Woolf and lobbying the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority with a view to properly-qualified legal cashiers becoming regulated and recognised within the legal profession. This is the way forward and would stop a lot of unscrupulous solicitors out there who may have a mind to misappropriate client funds.



There will always be a need for a client account while firms operate monetary transactions. Though we live in a computerised world, not all practices have the money or manpower to invest in technology.



Alison Gorringe, ILCA, Sidcup, Kent