Lawyers who do not maintain private practice of law and who are employed full time in a corporate capacity; by local, state or federal government; as a law clerk; professor; or as a member of the judiciary.

Lawyers who do not have an office in Pennsylvania, do not maintain fiduciary funds in financial institutions in the Commonwealth, and who otherwise are not required to maintain fiduciary funds in the Commonwealth.

Lawyers who are retired or no longer practice law.

Lawyers whose practices do not require the maintenance of any trust/escrow accounts.

Exemptions. Lawyers who maintain very low balances in their pooled trust account can request an exemption but must include a written statement or account analysis, preferably from their financial institution, that demonstrates that service charges would have significantly and routinely exceeded any interest had the account been interest-bearing. The written statement should indicate the name of the financial institution and the average daily balance of each of the attorney’s/firm’s pooled trust/escrow accounts for the immediately preceding twelve calendar months. If that computation is not readily available for the past 12 months, the completed months of the current calendar year for which the account(s) was open should be used. Note: the computation of the average daily balance should comport with that which the bank uses to compute interest earnings. As a general rule accounts with a history of an average daily balance of $3,500 or less, as evidenced by the bank’s records, will be determined exempt from the IOLTA requirements.

It is important to note that IOLTA exemptions do not exempt the lawyer and his/her banks from the overdraft reporting responsibilities and requirements of PA Rule of Disciplinary Enforcement 221.

Lawyers who find it extremely impractical to comply should provide appropriate details that demonstrate the impracticality, such as the absence of any approved financial institutions that offer IOLTA accounts in the lawyer’s geographical area.