Escrow Account

You'd be hardpressed to find an attorney willing to risk they're license to earn a living for not keeping an escrow deposit in an escrow account. Not for $500K.

their license NOT "they're" license.....double yikes

co-mingling client funds and personal funds is amongst the most serious violations an attorney can commit and if he/she did it and caught got, it is 100% sure to result in a disbarment. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen but very few attorneys are willing to risk the very severe penalty of disbarment (and thus, being barred from the practice of law) to do it.

Yes, and there's no slack at all. Looking at the disbarment proceedings from the New York Law Journal, there're quite a few that were just guilty of sloppy bookkeeping, "borrowing" the money for a week, etc., rather than actual theft.

Make the check payable to "XYZ, Esq., As Escrowee". Kind of sends the message that the check belongs in the escrow account.

Thanks for everyone's comment. The reason why I posted this question is because one of my lawyer friend told me he knew a lawyer that was using escrow deposits to pay for some of his personal affairs. The lawyer would replace the missing cash within a week or two. I'm sure most lawyers are legit and clean but just wanted to see if someone here had indeed lose some cash to a lawyer before.

Thanks