Legal Ethics
Law Firm Can’t Keep Referral Fee Promised to Disbarred Lawyer
A law firm that picked up the cases of a disbarred lawyer can’t keep referral fees it promised him before his practice closed, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled.
An Edison, N.J., law firm, Eichen Levinson & Crutchlow, had argued it was entitled to keep the $81,000 in promised referral fees, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. The firm cited an ethics rule barring suspended and disbarred lawyers from accepting fees for work by other lawyers.
The court’s opinion (PDF posted by the New Jersey Law Journal) said the ethics rule doesn’t apply to a deal made while the lawyer was still in practice. The court directed the firm to pay the fees into a trust that will later distribute the funds based on the court’s direction.
