31Payment by cheque

31 Payment by cheque

(1)  In this regulation –

associate means an associate of the law practice;

authorised means authorised by the law practice to sign cheques drawn on the general trust account.

(2)  This regulation applies to the withdrawal of trust money from a general trust account of a law practice by cheque.

(3)  A cheque –

(a) must be made payable to or to the order of a specified person or persons and not to bearer or cash; and

(b) must be crossed "not negotiable"; and

(c) must include –

(i) the name of the law practice or the business name under which the law practice engages in legal practice; and

(ii) the expression "law practice trust account" or "law practice trust a/c".

(4)  A cheque must be signed –

(a) by an authorised principal of the law practice; or

(b) if a principal referred to in paragraph (a) is not available –

(i) by an authorised legal practitioner associate; or

(ii) by an authorised Australian legal practitioner who holds an unrestricted practising certificate that authorises the receipt of trust money; or

(iii) by two or more authorised associates jointly.

(5)  A written record of the required particulars (which may be in the form of a cheque butt) must be kept of each payment made by cheque, whether by way of making a carbon copy or otherwise, unless at the time the cheque is issued those particulars are recorded by computer program in the trust account payments cash book.

(6)  If at the time the cheque is issued the required particulars are recorded by computer program in the trust account payments cash book, a written record must be kept that is sufficient to enable the accuracy of the particulars recorded by the computer program to be verified.