Lynda ArtesaniLegal Accountant and Data Migration Specialist at The Proper Trust

The Golden Rule of Unspent Retainers

6 May 2025 · 0 min

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In this brief excerpt from Lynda Artesani's video "The Golden Rule of Unspent Retainers," two speakers discuss how attorneys should handle retainers that have not been spent. Speaker A emphasizes that unspent retainer funds should not be treated as earned income, likening them to trust account funds that must be safeguarded because the client did not earn that money. Speaker B expands on this by contrasting the "trust retainer" model with the "accounts‑receivable (AR) retainer" model, noting that attorneys and their staff need to reverse their usual thinking when moving from a trust‑account mindset to an AR‑retainer perspective. The conversation underscores the core principle that unspent retainers must be managed with the same fiduciary care as trust funds, even when they are technically billed as receivables.

You shouldn't have spent that money, you didn't earn that money. It falls under the same logic as a trust account.
Yeah, it falls under the same logic, but it's almost backwards when you think of one, the trust retainer, and then you think of the AR retainer, and here's the attorney and their staff. They've got to kind of think backwards in looking at it. And I think you were starting to jump into maybe the—
it's not as complicated.