Administrative Matters: On the advice of the Client Protection Fund Committee in February, 2003, the Representative Assembly recommended that there be established a separate annual dues assessment for all active practitioners. The proposal is pending before the Michigan Supreme Court, and the Committee is optimistic that the Court will adopt this change in funding.

The Committee also has recommended to the State Bar of Michigan that it increase the disbursement levels for client losses resulting from the dishonesty of a single lawyer, or group of lawyers acting in concert, from $100,000 to $200,000 with the maximum amount payable to any single client due to lawyer dishonesty from $25,000 to $50,000.

The Committee currently has under consideration a complete review and update of the CPF rules. Committee action awaits the Michigan Supreme Court and the State Bar of Michigan acting on the foregoing proposals.

Claims Review: For the period April 1, 2002, through March 31, 2003, the Committee reviewed 64 claims. During this same time period, 22 claims were denied by the Committee or Board of Commissioners, 10 claims were withdrawn by the claimant, and the Committee recommended payments approved by the Board of Commissioners to 42 claimants totaling $349,664.17. Since the program's inception, 637 claims have been paid in the total amount of $3,363,435.42 while 1111 have been denied or withdrawn.

The following claim and financial activities occurred during the period April 1, 2002, through March 31, 2003.

Claim Activity

Claims pending at the beginning of period	189
Claims received	88
Claims closed	39
Claims approved for payment	42
Claims denied	22
Claims withdrawn by Claimant	10
Claims pending at end of period	164

Subrogation Activity

Amount received from Respondents	$14,896.38
Judicial candidate donations	$11,598.09

Financial Aspects

The Fund did not receive a budget appropriation this fiscal year. The Fund balance as of March 31, 2003, was $739.866.00.