Credit Card Processing in Law Practices

I wanted to discuss a little bit about credit card processing in law practices because it is becoming more common for individuals to want to pay with their credit card instead of checks/cash. Accepting credit cards can be a convenient way for clients to pay and also will help an attorney receive their funds quicker than with a check. While there are a lot of options in the marketplace lawyers have to be careful to be compliant with their credit and debit card processing.

My full time job is currently in merchant services/credit card processing and I often meet with lawyers to discuss the possibility of using our services for their law practice. One challenge that I run into is that sometimes lawyers want their credit card deposits to go into their trust accounts which can be a slippery slope. It is possible for processing companies to have the deposits and the fee withdrawals from different accounts but there is a danger when it comes to billing error. I wouldn't advise this course of action because if the processing fees are accidentally taken from the trust account it could cause major problems for the attorney. 

I found an interesting article from the ABA that discusses client payment options. 

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_practice/resources/tech-report/2022/ultimate-guide-legal-payments/