Lawyers are often entrusted with large sums of their clients' monies which may be held by the lawyers for later use, eg, pending completion of a major business deal or a payment deadline under a property transaction.
The law has strict rules on dealing with these sums held by the lawyers. They are required to bank the monies into a special account called the Client Account. This is a separate account from the law firm's own bank account which is called the Office Account. The Office Account is used to pay for expenses of the firm such as salaries, rent, etc. Since it is the lawyers' own monies, they are free to agree on how to use it.
On the other hand, the Client Account is a trust account. Monies there are only to be used according to the client's instructions. Monies of one client also cannot be used for another client's purposes. If the money is misused by the lawyers, the criminal offence of criminal breach of trust will be committed with jail sentences being almost always being the punishment. If the lawyer is honest, then even if he becomes bankrupt, the monies will be safe in the Client Account, and cannot be taken by the lawyer's personal creditors.
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