An IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts) account is a pooled, interest-bearing trust account that holds client funds too small, or held too briefly, to earn net interest for the client — the interest goes to civil legal aid instead.
IOLTA programs operate in all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the trust-account rules this page cites sit in state professional conduct rules — Ohio's Rule 1.15 — which is what makes trust accounting a licensing matter, not just bookkeeping.
What IOLTA is
The name describes the mechanism.
Client funds that are too small, or will be held too briefly, to earn net interest for the client go into one pooled, interest-bearing trust account, and the interest the pool earns funds civil legal aid.
Programs operate in all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the pooled interest adds up: IOLTA programs have generated more than $4 billion since 1981, with grants nationwide topping $175 million in 2020.
For the lawyer, an IOLTA is not a separate kind of banking product — it is a client trust account with a specific destination for the interest.
Ohio's Rule 1.15(a), the version of ABA Model Rule 1.15 this page uses as its example, requires the account to be designated as a "client trust account," "IOLTA account" or with a clearly identifiable fiduciary title.
The title is the point: it marks the account as holding client money, not firm money.
Who must have an IOLTA account
The obligation attaches to holding client money.
Ohio's Rule 1.15(a) requires client funds to be kept separate from the lawyer's own money, in an account carrying a fiduciary title — so a lawyer who will hold client funds needs a trust account to put them in.
What goes into the IOLTA pool is the money that cannot earn net interest for the client — balances too small, or expected to sit too briefly, to clear that bar; larger or long-held client funds go into separate interest-bearing accounts for the client.
The mechanics around the account — which banks can hold it, how the interest is swept, who registers it — are details our sources here do not cover, so confirm them with your state's IOLTA program or state bar before you open the account.
The core trust account rules
Three duties carry this page's summary of the rule it cites: Ohio's Rule 1.15 (as amended January 1, 2026), a state-adopted version of ABA Model Rule 1.15.
Separation and title.
Client funds stay out of the lawyer's own accounts, held in an account designated as a "client trust account," "IOLTA account" or with a similar fiduciary title.
Records.
Ohio requires trust-account records to be kept for seven years after the representation ends or the funds are disbursed.
Retention is state-set: seven years is Ohio's requirement, and other states' versions differ.
Reconciliation.
Ohio requires lawyers to perform and keep a monthly reconciliation of the client ledgers, the general trust ledger and the bank records.
Practitioners call this three-way reconciliation — the rule itself does not use the phrase, but it requires the monthly reconciliation to be performed and retained.
The obligations also reach past the account itself.
California's annual attorney renewal, open February 1 to March 30, includes Client Trust Account Protection Program reporting among its components, and missing the renewal deadline brings late fees and can lead to suspension.
Trust rules are state rules
Common trust account violations
The violations mirror the duties.
Under the rule cited above, the failure modes are the inverses: client money mixed into the firm's own accounts instead of held separate under a fiduciary title, a monthly reconciliation skipped or not kept, records destroyed before the retention period runs out.
The grievance data puts numbers on the exposure.
In 2025 the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission received 5,586 grievances involving 3,964 lawyers — 4% of all registered Illinois lawyers — and its report lists improper management of trust funds among the top grievance allegations, at 6%.
A grievance is an allegation, not a sanction, and the Illinois shares describe what complaints alleged, not what discipline was imposed.
Trust funds are one slice of the grievance file.
The full set of discipline risks new lawyers face — neglect, fee disputes, fraudulent or deceptive conduct — is its own guide.
The staff who manage trust accounting
The rules create recurring work: a monthly reconciliation across the client ledgers, the general trust ledger and the bank records — the three-way reconciliation described above — and records held for years, seven in Ohio.
That workload sits at the intersection of bookkeeping and licensing.
Our sources do not say which staff role handles it at a given firm.
One related staff seat is the legal billing specialist, who runs the firm's client billing — invoices out, payments in.
The duty-holder is still the lawyer.
Ohio's records provision says the records are kept by the lawyer, and the monthly reconciliation duty is written to lawyers — so any staff help with the ledgers serves a lawyer's obligations rather than replacing them.
For anyone working on those ledgers, that makes precision the point: the work exists because the rules require it, and an unexplained variance in a client ledger is a question someone has to answer.
If billing work interests you, the legal billing specialist career guide covers the role end to end — the day-to-day job, the billing cycle, e-billing, how to get in, and pay.
Career information, not legal advice. The rule text on this page is Ohio's adopted Rule 1.15 (as amended January 1, 2026), a state version of the ABA's Model Rule 1.15; states adopt their own versions, which can differ, and the grievance figures are Illinois' 2025 report. Confirm the trust-account rules that govern your practice with your state's professional conduct regulator or state bar.