State Bar will stop dipping into client protection fund to meet payroll
The State Bar of Michigan has vowed to never again pay its staff by dipping into a special fund intended for compensating clients whose lawyers ripped them off.
The bar's 32-member Board of Commissioners voted Friday to adopt a policy that specifically prohibits using money from its Client Protection Fund for unintended purposes.
The new policy is a response to an episode last September when the organization's finance director borrowed $275,000 from the fund to meet the organization's payroll. The State Bar was experiencing a cash shortage because of technical issues that affected a website that processes members' yearly dues.
Although the State Bar had reserves to meet the shortfall, there was not enough time to convert the certificates of deposit to cash, according to details of the episode in the new policy proposal. The borrowed money was put back into the fund several days later.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2019/07/27/state-bar-dipping-client-protection-fund/1836580001/