Legal Interest Monitor

Now available, Legal Interest Monitor is a set of 6 or 8 Excel workbooks designed to run under Excel 97, 2000 or higher, that feature: a completely Flexible daily display and accounting for up to 10 client accounts per file; a summary sheet reflecting a combined accounting of all 10 individual accounts; an ending balances sheet to print off for ease in transfer to a new years file and a monthly payment calculator sheet.

Originally designed for and under the direction of Law Firms monitoring lines of credit against client accounts, Legal Interest Monitor will provide you a means to accurately keep a totally Flexible and detailed accounting, on a daily transactional basis, of all client accounts, funds and line of credit accounts you manage, with or without interest. Each sheet within the workbooks will manage one year of all transactions and interest charges on a daily basis for a clients account, with provision to easily and quickly transfer balances to a new years file for continuing accounts. Larger files that can manage up to 25 individual accounts per file are also available.

Why the need? A legal case, Burrow v. Arce, 997 S.W.2d 299 (Tex. 1999), deals with specific issues of breach of fiduciary duty. While this case isnt specifically about interest on clients money, it is about fee forfeiture consequence of doing things wrong, and while it doesnt really apply to case interest, the punishments do. The ruling makes it possible for clients to recover all or part of the fees, which professionals such as attorneys earned on their case if their fiduciary duty is found to be breached. Before, attorneys only have had to pay fines or small restitutions. Because breach of fiduciary duty is the single crime that really upsets the various state bars, other state bars may rely on the Texas ruling to issue caution. In other words, it has put attorneys on alert that regardless of the amounts involved, they could have to pay to their former clients all fees associated with their case. Since it takes a few years for a suit to go to court, by the time a ruling is made, theyve often already spent that money. I have also been told that there are cases applying it just now going to trial. If there is no similar case law, say in Missouri, then a Missouri lawyer could point to the Texas ruling to give the Court precedent. Ive also been told that this has been the frequent subject of conversation at Legal Association meetings, and is now a popular topic at CLEs for members of the legal profession.