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

A. Applications submitted to the Committee shall be referred by the Chairperson to the General Counsel or other Staff of the Oklahoma Bar Association for investigation and recommendation as to the validity of the claim included in the application. The reports of investigation and the recommendations thus made shall be submitted to the Committee as a whole. The Committee, during each calendar year, in its sole discretion shall determine the amount of loss for which any client shall be reimbursed and in making such determination the Committee shall consider, inter alia, the following:

• The conduct, if any, of the client which contributed to the loss,

• The comparative hardship the client has suffered by the loss,

• The total amount of applications for reimbursement which have been submitted by the clients of any one lawyer or association of lawyers, and

• All claims against the Clients’ Security Fund shall be presented to the Clients’ Security Fund Committee for its consideration. In December of each year, the Clients’ Security Fund Committee shall make a written report to the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association setting forth the Committee’s recommendations with regard to all claims considered by the Committee during the preceding year. The Board of Governors shall consider the recommendations of the Clients’ Security Fund Committee and make a final determination of approval or rejection of each claim. After the Board of Governors has made a final decision regarding all the claims for the preceding year, the Executive Director shall compute the total dollar amount of all claims approved by the Board of Governors. If the total dollar amount of the approved claims does not exceed the annual aggregate amount of reimbursement as specified in paragraph 6 of this section, the Executive Director shall promptly pay all the approved claims. If the total dollar amount of the approved claims exceeds the annual aggregate amount of reimbursement, the Executive Director shall pay all approved claims on a prorated basis so that the same percentage of each approved claim is paid and the total dollar amount of the prorated claims paid equals the annual aggregate amount of reimbursement. The Board of Governors may increase the amount available for reimbursement by appropriating an amount from the Permanent Fund not to exceed 10% of the total of the Permanent Fund as determined on November 1 of each year. Nothing herein shall create any obligation on the part of the Board of Governors to any such increase under any circumstances.

• The President of the Association and the Budget Committee shall budget for the benefit of the Clients’ Security Fund sufficient money from the annual budget so that the Clients’ Security Fund shall have in it as of January 1 of each year the sum of $175,000.00. The Association shall also establish a Clients’ Security Permanent Fund, the income of which shall be used to increase the annual aggregate amount available for reimbursement of claimant losses. The Permanent Fund shall be funded in the following manner: In the event that the total dollar amount of the approved claims in any one year does not exceed the annual budgeted $175,000.00 amount plus any earned income from that amount, the remaining balance of the budgeted amount and earned income shall be added to the Clients’ Security Permanent Fund; The Permanent Fund shall also include other funds received by the Board relating to Client Security including voluntary contributions or subrogation or restitution received for claims paid. The appropriated annual funds and the other funds of the Clients’ Security Permanent Fund shall be invested at the direction of the Board of Governors and the income from such investment shall be added to the Clients’ Security Fund to be used in the manner prescribed herein. Nothing herein shall create any obligation on the part of the Association to fund or pay all approved claims.

• The annual aggregate amount of reimbursement for any calendar year that is payable by the Clients’ Security Fund is hereby set as the total of the budgeted amount, $175,000.00, plus any current income from the Permanent Fund and the budgeted $175,000.00. In the event that it is determined to purchase insurance to insure the integrity of the Fund in making payments of reimbursement in accordance with Section II(H)(2), principal and income of the annual budgeted amount and the Permanent Fund may be used for any such purpose.

• The Board of Governors, subject to approval by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, may from time to time change or modify the maximum amount of reimbursement payable by the Clients’ Security Fund. (As amended by Supreme Court Order 52298)

• Claimant shall be reimbursed for losses in amounts to be determined in the sole discretion and approval of the Board of Governors at the recommendation of the Committee. Reimbursement, if any, shall not include interest, incidental consequential and out of pocket expenses.

• If the claimant is a minor or an incompetent, the reimbursement may be made to any person or entity for the benefit of the claimant.

• Although the rules set forth herein establish procedures for the processing of the claims seeking reimbursement from the Fund, they are not intended to nor do they create a substantive right to reimbursement, compensation, damages or restitution for a lawyer’s dishonest act.

• The Oklahoma Bar Association, members of its Board of Governors, members of the Committee and the agents and employees of the Oklahoma Bar Association are not guarantors of honesty or integrity in the practice of law. Dishonest conduct by a member of the Bar imposes no separate legal obligation on the profession collectively, or on the Clients’ Security Fund, to compensate for a lawyer’s misconduct. The Fund is a Bar-financed public service of the Bar Association with the intent to promote public confidence in the administration of justice and the integrity of the legal profession, and therefore payment of reimbursement of losses is a matter of grace and discretion by the Board of Governors.

• The recommendations made by the Clients’ Security Fund Committee or the decisions made by the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association pursuant to these rules shall be final.