Sample Engagement Letters

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel released the 3rd Edition of Engagement Letters, created by the ACTEC Professional Conduct Committee with the financial support of the Foundation. The Engagement Letters are a critical step in creating professional relationships with clients.

The Third Edition builds on the initial editions by:

• Updating the forms and checklists to address the latest version of the Model Rules and modern challenges to a lawyer’s ethical responsibilities;
• Respond to other changes in the law;
• Provides cross references to the latest edition of the ACTEC Commentaries;
• Includes checklists and forms that address a variety of engagement scenarios that were not dealt with in the prior Edition;
• Offers additional drafting options;
• Includes Word versions of each letter.

The goal of the ACTEC Engagement Letters is to assist lawyers in providing ethical services to clients based on a family-oriented practice model, to demonstrate how trust and estate lawyers can use engagement letters to promote competent and ethical representation of their clients, and to increase the utility and value of the engagement letters and checklists. The letters also provide an improved resource for the bench and bar, and a better tool for law schools in teaching ethics. They are a valuable resource for attorneys, universities and law offices.