New trust accounting software pilot program planned.

A special committee looking at automated trust accounting software for Bar members has received a proposal for a six-month pilot program involving 10 to 15 law firms.

Board of Governors Parliamentarian Andy Sasso, who heads the committee working on the trust accounting effort, said the panel has received a proposal from FIS, a Fortune 500 international banking services company, which is working with the Bar.

The program would run through SunTrust Bank. SunTrust will hold an omnibus IOTA account into which the trust funds of the testing firms will be deposited and managed using a system called Advantage.

"The law firms would be able to directly deposit IOTA trust funds into a local SunTrust bank or wire the funds directly to SunTrust and the FIS system will connect directly with The Florida Bar website. Members will be able to--using their password--request distributions using this Advantage workload tool," Sasso said. After six months, if the program works, it will be expanded statewide.

"The lawyer would no longer have to do any trust accounting work. Once the system is set up, they would put information in when they make a deposit and put information in system when they make a withdrawal. All of the required trust accounting [paperwork] will be done automatically," he added.

The initial implementation cost will be...