If the rules for paying attorney referral fees are too strict (or if your jurisdiction doesn`t allow referrals from paid lawyers), you should also consider giving and receiving referrals for free, as this remains valuable for building relationships and creating new business flows for your firm. The Zayed Law Offices team will be happy to assess any recommended personal injury to determine if they can handle the case for your client. Whether you are not treating bodily injury or do not have the financial and administrative resources to achieve a positive result, we can help. Referring your customers to us protects your reputation, eliminates your risk of losing a business, and gives your customer the best chance of getting a positive result in their personal injury claim. Contact us online or call us at (312) 726-1616 to discuss your client`s case and find out if we can meet their needs. If your customer has a viable claim, we can take the following steps to create a referral agreement. California`s Rules of Professional Conduct govern the apportionment of attorneys` fees with attorneys and non-attorneys. Although the sharing of fees with non-lawyers is beyond the scope of this article, The Rule of Ethics 5.4(a) generally prohibits it except for a few narrow exceptions, which mainly concern the death or retirement of lawyers. If you are considering a financial arrangement that is even remotely similar to fee-splitting with a non-lawyer (yes, that also means paralegals), you should understand rule 5.4(a) and should contact an ethics consultant. [1] This rule allows for the public dissemination of information about the name, address, email address, website and telephone number of a lawyer or law firm; the type of services the lawyer will use; the basis on which lawyers` fees are determined, including the prices of certain services and the terms of payment and credit; foreign language skills of a lawyer; the names of the references and, with their consent, the names of the clients who are regularly represented; and other information that may attract the attention of those seeking a lawyer. For example, according to the ABA`s Formal Notice 475, this payment must be made to a separate escrow account of the recipient lawyer`s property before being paid to another lawyer if the money paid is the subject of a referral agreement between lawyers. Illinois courts have interpreted «legal liability» to mean financial liability for misconduct by the receiving attorney. Elane v.
St. Bernard Hospital, 284 Ill App 3d 865; 672 BN2d 820 (1 D 1996); In re Storment, 203 Ill 2d 378; 786 NE2d 963 (2002). For this reason, you should feel comfortable and be convinced of the quality of work that anyone you refer a case to will do. Agency fees and the distribution of fees among co-lawyers play an important role in our practice. They encourage lawyers to seek out or work with other lawyers to ensure that clients receive competent representation. For the benefit and protection of the client and lawyers, ensure that you have updated your firm`s procedures for referral fees and other fee-splitting agreements to comply with Rule 1.5.1. Compliance not only protects you from professional misconduct and disciplinary action, but also ensures that you have an enforceable fee-splitting agreement that will be valid in court if a lawyer fails to comply with their agreement. A reference agreement that guarantees you a portion of the lawyer`s fees shows the client that you have investigated our firm and that you are risking your reputation by referring it to us. This inspires and maintains your customer`s trust. Beyond the provisions of the mediation agreements themselves, lawyers must keep detailed and transparent records of all shared or shared fees, which can lead to costly logistical challenges. The California Supreme Court has stated that the purpose of the fee-splitting rules is to «protect the public and promote respect and trust in the legal profession.» (Chambers v.
Kay (2002) 29 Cal.4th 142, 145.) [3] Subsection b(1) allows a lawyer to pay for advertising and communications authorized under this rule, including the cost of printed directory entries, online directory entries, newspaper advertisements, television and radio broadcast time, domain name registrations, sponsorship fees, Internet advertising and group advertising.