Joshua Lenon is the Lawyer in Residence at Clio and he has just posted The Ethics of Law Firms Accepting Credit Cards.

It is challenging to write about legal ethics for the 50 states where the ethical standards are not uniform. This is a good general treatment.

For Oklahoma lawyers I might add that it is certainly legal to accept credit cards for legal services in this jurisdiction, but retainers and other unearned fees must go in the trust account. So, it is generally a better business practice to use a credit card processor that allows you to deposit into either the trust or operating account but deduct all service charges from the operating account. See my prior tips video on this subject. And, apart from any ethical considerations, in my opinion, it is not good for the law firm’s image to “nickel and dime” clients by attempting to recover credit card processing fees from clients. As Joshua notes in his post, 2% of $10,000 is only $200.

The Clio Cloud Conference is next week and Clio CEO Jack Newton will be addressing the OBA Annual Meeting in November on The Client-Centered Law Firm: How to Succeed in an Experience-Driven World. We appreciate Clio’s support of the OBA Annual Meeting.