No, only those paying the active rate qualify for fee scaling.

Yes, the fee scaling declaration is available online through your My State Bar Profile.

No, new licensees admitted after May 31 are not eligible to fee scale the half-year active fees.

Panelist credit hours should be calculated by dividing the actual program time by the number of panelists participating. The following is an example of a 1-hour program with three panelists: 

• 60 minutes (program time) ÷ 3 (number of panelists) = 20 minutes of speaking time for each panelist;
• 20 minutes (speaking time) x 4 = 80 minutes, rounded to the nearest quarter-hour = 1.25 hours of total speaking time to be awarded to each panelist.

CTAPP is a proactive regulatory program designed to: 

• Protect the public by ensuring proper accounting and safeguards for client and third-party funds entrusted to attorneys; and
• Educate, support, and assist attorneys in complying with the ethical and accounting requirements of managing client trust accounts.

CTAPP includes an annual reporting obligation that is required to be completed by almost all licensees. (See FAQ 2.2 for more information on who must comply and FAQ 2.3 for who is exempt from CTAPP.) During each billing cycle, licensees are required to complete: 

• Annual client trust account reporting (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 9.8.5(a)(1)(A));
• Annual trust account registration (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 9.8.5(a)(1)(B));
• Annual client trust account self-assessment (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 9.8.5(a)(2)(A)); and
• Annual client trust account certification of compliance (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 9.8.5(a)(1)(A)).

Licensees must also submit a declaration saying the information they provided is true and correct. 

CTAPP also includes: 

• Public education and client outreach regarding attorney responsibilities and the rights of clients;
• Enhanced legal education on client trust account management for attorneys, such as the newly released Practical Trust Account Reconciliation course, which includes practical guidance on CTA recordkeeping and monthly reconciliations, and best practices guides;
• Compliance reviews of selected lawyers by a certified public accountant to ensure adherence to client trust account management requirements; and
• Where appropriate based on the results of the compliance reviews, investigative audits of the licensee’s trust accounts.

All funds received by a lawyer in connection with legal representation in which a client or a third party has an interest are funds that must be deposited in a trust account. Examples include advances for fees received from clients (until they are earned by the lawyer), funds of others that are being held for disbursement at a later time, personal injury awards, and litigation settlements. 

Client and third-party funds must be held in either an IOLTA or non-IOLTA type client trust account. The definitions of each are as follows: 

IOLTA—An attorney or firm that holds funds for a client or third party that are nominal in amount or are held for too short a time to earn interest income for the benefit of the client or third party in excess of the cost to hold the funds in a separate account is required to place those funds in an IOLTA account. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6211, subd. (a)). A California IOLTA account must be established and maintained with an eligible institution that offers IOLTA accounts that meet certain requirements. The State Bar website has a list of IOLTA-eligible institutions. 

Non-IOLTA—An attorney or firm that holds funds for a client or the benefit of a single party in a matter that is large enough to generate more than nominal interest, or an attorney who holds funds for a single party for an extended period must hold such funds in a non-IOLTA trust account. An example would be funds held by the administrator of a family trust. The attorney must use a non-IOLTA account because these entrusted funds will earn interest in excess of the costs to maintain the account. The interest earned goes to the client or third party. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6211, subd. (b)).

When registering a client trust account as part of CTAPP, you must identify the trust account type. The account will either be IOLTA or non-IOLTA; an account will never be both. The account type was established at the time the account was opened and does not change. A California IOLTA must bear the State Bar of California’s Taxpayer Identification Number to ensure that interest or dividends generated by this account will be paid to the State Bar’s IOLTA program. A non-IOLTA will bear the Social Security Number or Tax ID number of the client or third party.

The CTAPP reporting deadline is the same as the licensee’s deadline for paying their license fees (Rule 2.5(C) of the Rules of the State Bar). The annual renewal cycle deadline is March 30. This is also the deadline for other requirements (e.g., MCLE compliance, etc.). (Rule 2.11 of the Rules of the State Bar.) For new attorneys, the deadline is 45 days from the invoice date for their fees (Rule 2.12 of the Rules of the State Bar).

The State Bar takes reasonable precautions and has security measures in place to protect the personal information we collect and maintain against loss, unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure. We take the following measures to secure the information that is stored within our applications: 

• Protecting the security of individuals’ personal information during transmission by using encryption protocols and software.
• Storing personal information in secure locations in an encrypted format.
• Ensuring staff is trained on procedures for the management and release of personal information. This information can only be accessed by staff whose work requires it.
• Conducting periodic audits to ensure that proper information management policies and procedures are being followed.

A lawyer in possession of client or third-party funds and property is a fiduciary. A lawyer must safeguard and segregate those funds and not commingle them with the lawyer's personal or business accounts. (See FAQ 1.3, above, for a description of the two types of trust accounts a lawyer may open to hold client or third-party funds.)

A lawyer must report timely and completely to their client regarding the status and accounting of client funds. A lawyer’s obligations regarding entrusted funds and property are set out in rule 1.15 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. In addition, under rule 1.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct, a lawyer must keep their client reasonably informed about significant developments related to a client’s representation. Comment [1] to this rule specifies that a lawyer’s receipt of funds on behalf of a client ordinarily is a significant development requiring such communication with the client.