By Samson Habte | Bloomberg BNA
Although most U.S. jurisdictions prohibit nonlawyer owners in law firms, lawyers do not violate the related ban on sharing legal fees with nonlawyers by collaborating and splitting fees with lawyers who practice in a firm that includes nonlawyer owners as permitted in the District of Columbia and some foreign countries, the ABA’s ethics committee advised Aug. 19 (ABA Standing Comm. on Ethics & Prof’l Responsibility, Formal Op. 464, 8/19/13).
“Where there is a single billing to a client in such situations,” the committee said, “a lawyer subject to the Model Rules may divide a legal fee with a lawyer or law firm in the other jurisdiction, even if the other lawyer or law firm might eventually distribute some portion of the fee to a nonlawyer, provided that there is no interference with the lawyer’s independent professional judgment.”
