101PD SAMPLEPart I — The Rule and the Money Mechanics §1 The First Principle — Whose Money It Is Trust accounting begins from one sentence the rest of the course merely applies: money a lawyer holds in connection with a representation that belongs to a client or a third person is never the lawyer's money, and California's Rule 1.15 builds its entire machinery on that line. What goes in trust: advances for fees not yet earned; advances for costs not yet incurred; settlement and judgment proceeds from receipt until proper disbursement; funds in which third parties hold interests (lienholders, co-payees); disputed amounts, to the extent of the dispute, until resolution. What stays out: the lawyer's own money — with the single narrow exception for amounts reasonably sufficient to pay bank charges — because commingling runs in both directions, and parking earned fees in trust is a violation just as spending unearned ones is. The flat-fee refinement: California permits a true flat fee paid in advance to be deposited into the operating account only with the prescribed written disclosures, and above the rule's threshold amount the client must also be given the option of trust deposit with the fee treated as unearned until services are provided — the details flagged for verification against current rule text, the structure stable. The true retainer distinction: a payment solely to ensure availability — genuinely earned on receipt, vanishingly rare in ordinary practice, and abused often enough that the label earns scrutiny rather than deference. And the doctrinal centerpiece the discipline reports repeat: misappropriation occurs the moment the trust balance for a client falls below the amount held for that client — intent to repay is no defense to the violation, "borrowing" is a synonym for taking, and intentional misappropriation carries a presumption of disbarment. The section's plain-language translation, in this catalog's tradition: the trust account has no overdraft protection because the rule is the protection — other people's money moves only when it is actually theirs to receive. §2 The Operating Duties — Notice, Payment, Dispute, and Records Rule 1.15's working obligations run on four verbs. Notify: prompt notice to the client or third person upon receiving funds or property in which they have an interest — the settlement check's arrival is the client's news, not the lawyer's convenience. Pay: prompt payment or delivery, on request, of undisputed funds and property the client or third person is entitled to receive — with the discipline docket's recurring failure being not theft but drift: the disbursement that waits weeks for no documented reason. Segregate: when the lawyer's fee is disputed, or third-party claims attach, the disputed portion stays in trust until resolution — the lawyer may withdraw the undisputed remainder, and the dispute is resolved by agreement, arbitration, or adjudication, never by self-help. Record: complete records of all funds and property, maintained per the rule's schedule and retained for the prescribed period after final distribution — client ledgers showing every receipt and disbursement per client, the account