Sharing of Fees Between Non-Affiliated Lawyers: The Way We were, What might have Been, Where We are Now
By: D. Ronald Reneker (Co-speaker) and Y. W. Peter Chen (Co-speaker) In 1990, with approval by a referendum of the Texas State Bar, the Texas Supreme Court adopted Rule 1.04(f) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.2 The 1990 version of Rule 1.04(f)(1)(ii) provided: "a division or agreement for division of a fee between lawyers who are not in the same firm shall not be made unless: the division is: made with a forwarding lawyer."3 As acknowledged by the Court in 2003, this provision allowed a forwarding lawyer in Texas "to receive a referral fee without performing any legal services or agreeing to assume any responsibility for the representation,"4 thus making the Texas rule, in comparison to comparable rules in other jurisdictions, the most permissive of referral fees.5 This conclusion was echoed in 2004 by the Referral Fee Task Force established by the State Bar of Texas, which "concluded that Texas is the only jurisdiction whose attorney disciplinary rules expressly allow the payment of a fee merely for referring or forwarding a case and that almost all scholarly commentary, as well as the disciplinary rules of almost every other jurisdiction, condemn that practice."6 The evolution of our current TDRPC Rule 1.04(f) (effective March 1, 2005) began nearly ten years ago, when amidst rising concern regarding referral fees in Texas, the Court requested advice from the TDRPC Committee on whether Rule 1.04(f) "should be more restrictive of referral fees."7 The Committee's report back to the Court discussed both the arguments in support of the referral fee system. TO READ MORE, CLICK THE PDF ICON BELOW: View as PDF |