Ethics Opinions
Iowa Supreme Court Board of Professional Ethics and Conduct
Date of Opinion:
06/17/2003
Opinion Number:
03-05
Title:
PAYMENT OF RETAINER BY CREDIT CARD
Opinion:
You ask whether it is permissible for clients to charge retainers on their credit cards. This would not violate the Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers; however, it is noted in ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct 41:602 that “Clients’ use of credit cards to finance retainers … can be problematic for the lawyer in that card issuers often require that services already be rendered before credit card payment will be accepted.”
As with other advance fee payments, of course, any retainers received from the credit card issuer must be deposited in your trust account and withdrawn only as earned. See
Supreme Court Board of Ethics v. Apland,
557 N.W.2d 50, 59 (Iowa 1998).