Total Credits: 3 CLE, 3 Ethics
It does not take an accounting degree or an expensive computer system to efficiently and ethically maintain a trust account. All it takes is the ability to add and subtract (calculators are encouraged!) and the tenacity to record every detail of every transaction every time.
In this hands-on seminar you will learn how to:
· decide what funds go into your trust account
· properly record each transaction
· keep appropriate records
· perform the mandatory monthly three-way reconciliation
· disburse funds
· accept credit cards
Lawyers and staff with a trust account should attend this seminar.
Faculty:
Jennifer Fite, Lawyer Assistance Program Director, State Bar of Arizona
Roberta Tepper, Chief Member Services Officer, State Bar of Arizona
Roberta Tepper, Chief Member Services Officer for the State Bar of Arizona, has been with the State Bar since 2004. Roberta leads the Member Services Division team which supports numerous programs and departments, including Continuing Legal Education; Lawyer Assistance Programs (Practice 2.0 and MAP); Legal Specialization; Mandatory CLE and Compliance; the Bar’s Resource Center, and more. Roberta served as the Lawyer Assistance Programs Director, from 2013 until September 2021, which included responsibility for Practice 2.0, the State Bar of Arizona’s practice management advice program, the Bar’s Member Assistance Program, and support for the Bar’s 30 Sections as well as the Young Lawyer and Senior Lawyer Divisions. Roberta previously served as a prosecutor in North Carolina; worked in court administration in Delaware; and served as Bar Counsel and then Senior Bar Counsel in the Lawyer Regulation Office at the State Bar of Arizona.
Ms. Tepper is an active member of the Law Practice Division of the American Bar Association, serves as the Division’s Secretary, is the Feature Editor for Law Practice Magazine, a member of the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, Lawyer Wellbeing Committee, Women Rainmakers, and the Strategy and Planning Committee, and served as the co-Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2021. She is a frequent author of articles on practice management, best practices and lawyer wellness and well-being for the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine and Law Practice Today. She also co-authored Tech From the Trenches, a column for Law Practice magazine that addresses best practices and the use of technology in the practice of law.
Roberta is a Fastcase 50 honoree (2019), an award that recognizes innovators, visionaries and leaders in law and was selected as one of the 2021 Women of Legal Tech honorees by the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center. She chairs the Practice Management Advisors of North America, is a Past President and an ex officio member of the Arizona Women Lawyers Association Board of Directors and, as a past chapter President, is an ex officio member of the AWLA, Maricopa Chapter, Steering Committee. A graduate of the University of Arizona College of Law, Ms. Tepper is admitted to practice in Arizona and is an inactive member of the North Carolina and Delaware Bars.
is the Lawyer Assistance Programs Director for the State Bar of Arizona. Before joining the Bar, Jennifer had a varied career working primarily in civil litigation, most recently serving as Litigation Attorney and Managing Partner of a small firm. Jennifer has a Juris Doctorate from Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale and received her Bachelors of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California. She has been licensed to practice in the State of Arizona since 2002 and is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and the United States Supreme Court. She is a past Judge Pro Tempore.
