Okla. Bar Ass'n Clients' Sec. Fund R. I

A. There is hereby established a Clients’ Security Fund Committee of The Oklahoma Bar Association (hereafter called the Committee).

B. The Committee shall consist of fifteen persons appointed by the President with the approval of the Board of Governors, for the terms as follows: five for one year, five for two years, five for three years. After the initial appointments, each subsequent appointment shall be for a term of three years. At least one appointee each year shall be a person who is not a lawyer. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the President for the unexpired term.

C. The Committee is authorized to consider claims for reimbursement of losses arising after the effective date of the original resolution and caused by the dishonest conduct of a lawyer, acting as a lawyer, where said lawyer is a practicing member of the Bar of Oklahoma, maintains an office for the practice of law in the State of Oklahoma and has died, has been adjudged mentally ill, appropriate disciplinary action has been completed or he or she shall have resigned or permitted his or her license to practice to lapse after disciplinary proceedings shall have been commenced against the lawyer.

D. The Board of Governors, upon consideration of the Committee’s recommendations shall be authorized and empowered to honor, pay, or reject such claims in whole or in part to the extent that funds are available. All reimbursements shall be a matter of grace, not right, and no client and no member of the public shall have any right in the Clients’ Security Fund as third-party beneficiary or otherwise. If the plan is self-insured, the payment of the claims will be determined at one time or at about the end of each year of operation so that available funds may be equitably allocated within any one year.

E. All Petitions for Relief must be filed within five years of the loss caused by the dishonest conduct of the attorney.

F. The Committee is authorized to prescribe rules and procedures for the management of its funds and affairs, for the presentation of claims and the processing and payment thereof.

G. All sums appropriated by the Board of Governors for the use of the Committee shall be held and invested by the Treasurer of the Association in a separate fund known as the Clients’ Security Fund subject to the written directions of the Committee under Committee rules.

H. The Committee subject to the final determination of the Board of Governors may use or employ the Clients’ Security Fund for all or any of the following purposes within the scope of the Committee’s objectives, as heretofore outlined:

• To make reimbursements to clients.

• At its discretion, to purchase insurance to insure the integrity of the Clients’ Security Fund, provided that such insurance is obtainable at reasonable costs and is deemed appropriate.

I. The expenses of this Committee shall be paid out of the general fund of the Oklahoma Bar Association.

J. The Committee shall provide a full written report of its activities annually to the Board of Governors of the Association, and it shall make such other reports of its activities and give only such further publicity to same as the Board of Governors may deem advisable.

K. The Committee may be abolished at any time upon the recommendation of the Board of Governors and approval of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. In the event of such abolition, all assets of the Clients’ Security Fund shall be and remain the property of the Oklahoma Bar Association and usable for its general purposes by action of the Board of Governors.

L. The President shall be authorized to make the appointments to the committee with the approval of the Board of Governors.

M. Given the nature and purpose of the Fund, it is expected that members of the Association will assist claimants for relief without charge, deeming their service to be pro bono publico. Where an unusual amount of time and effort is expended by an attorney who assists a claimant, he or she may be awarded a modest fee out of the award. No attorney shall be compensated for presenting a petition except as authorized by the Clients’ Security Fund Committee and the Board of Governors.

N. The Oklahoma Bar Association, members of its Board of Governors, members of the Committee, employees and agents of the Oklahoma Bar Association, claimants and lawyers who assist claimants are absolutely immune from civil liability for all acts of omission or commission in the course of their official duties.

O. The Purposes of the Clients’ Security Fund are:

• To furnish a means of protecting the reputation of lawyers in general from the consequences of dishonest acts of a very few.

• To furnish a means of reimbursement to clients for financial losses occasioned by dishonest acts of lawyers:

• To the extent that the Fund is capable of making reimbursements; and

• If in the opinion of the Board of Governors upon consideration of the Committee’s recommendation, the client is entitled to reimbursement.

• In such amount as the Board of Governors, in its sole discretion, shall deem reasonable and proper, with the consideration of the Committee’s recommendation.

P. In establishing the Clients’ Security Fund, the Oklahoma Bar Association did not create or acknowledge any legal responsibility for the acts of individual lawyers in their practice of law. Therefore, all reimbursements of losses by the Clients’ Security Fund shall be made solely at the discretion of the Board of Governors upon the recommendation of the Committee and not as a matter of legal right capable of enforcement by any claimant.