Supreme Court Rules Table of Contents
(1) In order to assure compliance with the requirements of Rule 50 and in order to ascertain that the records and accounts described in Rule 50 are properly maintained, all attorneys licensed to practice in the State of New Hampshire, whether in private practice or not, other than those in inactive status, shall individually or through their firm organizations file an annual Certificate of Compliance and, unless they have filed a Notice of Declination under Rule 50(1)F, Authorization to Financial Institutions on or before August 1st of each year. For purposes of this rule, an attorney shall not be considered to be "in inactive status" if the attorney's New Hampshire Bar Association membership status was active at any time during the one-year period beginning on June 1 of the year preceding the reporting year and ending on May 31 of the reporting year. The Certificate of Compliance shall certify to one of three things:
A. That the attorney does not maintain a trust account and does not have in his
possession any assets or funds of clients;
B. That client funds maintained by the attorney are held in accounts in full
compliance with the requirements of Rule 50; or
C. That the
attorney is willing to submit to a spot compliance audit to his trust accounts
at his own expense.
A prescribed Certificate of Compliance form will be sent to the attorney annually by the New Hampshire Bar Association with the attorney's annual dues assessment. The self-certification may be completed by the attorney or by a private accountant employed for this purpose by the attorney. The completed Certificate of Compliance forms shall be filed with the New Hampshire Supreme Court by delivery to the New Hampshire Bar Association by August 1st of each year. The self-certification procedure shall be supplemented by annual compliance checks by an accountant selected by the Supreme Court. The accountant's purpose in conducting a compliance check will be to determine whether the minimum standards set forth in Rule 50 are being maintained. All information obtained by the accountant shall remain confidential except for purposes of transmitting notice of violations to the Professional Conduct Committee or the Supreme Court. The information derived from such compliance checks shall not be disclosed by anyone in such a way as to violate the attorney-client privilege except by express order from the Supreme Court. The certification and authorization or declination requirements of this rule shall not apply to any full-time judge, full-time marital master, or full-time supreme, superior, and district court clerk or deputy clerk, except that the certification requirement shall apply where such judge, marital master, clerk, or deputy clerk was in the active practice of law at any time during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding August 1st of any year.
The Authorization
to Financial Institutions shall be signed by an authorized signer for the
accounts listed. The completed authorization shall be returned to the New
Hampshire Bar Foundation by August 1 of each year.
(2) An attorney who fails
to comply with the requirements of Rule 50 with respect to the maintenance,
availability, and preservation of accounts and records, who fails to file the
required annual Certificate of Compliance, or the annual Authorization to
Financial Institutions or a Notice of Declination, or who fails to produce trust
account records as required shall be deemed to be in violation of Rule 1.15 of
the Rules of Professional Conduct and the applicable Supreme Court Rule. Unless
upon petition to the Supreme Court an extension has been granted, failure to
file the required annual Certificate of Compliance by August 1st shall, in
addition, subject the attorney to one or more of the following penalties and
procedures:
A. A fine of $100 for each month or fraction thereof after August 1st in which
the Certificate of Compliance remains unfiled; in addition, an attorney who has
been fined $300 or more under this section may be suspended from the practice of
law in this State;
B. Audit of the attorney's trust accounts and other financial records at the
expense of the attorney, if the certificate remains unfiled on December 1st; and
C. Based upon results of the audit, initiation of proceedings for further
sanctions, including suspension.
Any check,
draft or money order received as payment of any fine imposed pursuant to this
rule, which is returned to the court as uncollectable, shall be returned to the
sender and shall not constitute payment of the fine. Whenever any check,
draft or money order issued in payment of any fine imposed pursuant to this rule
is returned to the court as uncollectable, the court shall charge a fee of $25,
plus all protest and bank fees, in addition to the amount of the check, draft or
money order to the person presenting the check, draft or money order to cover
the costs of collection. The fine shall not be considered paid until the
fine plus all fees have been paid.
Reinstatement
following a suspension ordered pursuant to Rule 50-A(2)(A) above shall be only
by order of the Supreme Court, upon petition to the court following the filing
of the Certificate of Compliance and payment of the fine. If the petition
is filed more than one year after the date of the order suspending the person
from the practice of law in this State, then the petition shall be accompanied
by evidence of continuing competence and learning in the law, and evidence of
continuing moral character and fitness. If the evidence of continuing competence
and learning in the law, and evidence of continuing moral character and fitness,
are satisfactory to the court, the court may order reinstatement upon such
conditions as it deems appropriate.
If the evidence of
continuing competence and learning in the law is not satisfactory to the court,
the court shall refer the motion for reinstatement to the professional conduct
committee for referral to a panel of the hearings committee. The hearing panel
shall promptly schedule a hearing at which the attorney shall have the burden of
demonstrating by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she has the
competency and learning in law required for reinstatement. At the conclusion of
the hearing, the hearing panel shall promptly file a report containing its
findings and recommendations and transmit same, together with the record, to the
professional conduct committee. The professional conduct committee shall review
the report of the hearings committee panel, the record and the hearing
transcript and shall file its own recommendations and findings, together with
the record, with the court. Following the submission of briefs, if necessary,
and oral argument, if any, the court shall enter a final order.
If the evidence of
continuing moral character and fitness is not satisfactory to the court, the
court shall order the applicant to file with the committee on character and
fitness and with the clerk of the supreme court the petition and questionnaire
referred to in Supreme Court Rule 42(5)(e). Further proceedings shall be
governed by Rule 42.
(3) Except for requirements of Rule
50, subparagraph (2)A, requiring the inclusion of probate accounts in the index
of trust accounts, the provisions of Rule 50, paragraph (2), and of this Rule
50-A shall not apply to probate accounts (including estate, testamentary trusts,
guardian, and conservator accounts).
(4) The Supreme Court may at any time
order an audit of such financial records or trust accounts of an attorney, and
take such other action as it deems necessary to protect the public.