Illinois State Bar Association Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Illinois State Bar Association, with full citations and source links on every page.
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May an Illinois lawyer affiliate with a for-profit client referral service that charges clients a fixed fee, splits the fee with the lawyer, offers a money-back guarantee, uses non-attorney actors in ads, and requires lawyer-client communications on its monitored online platform?
The opinion concludes no. The money-back guarantee is a prohibited paid recommendation (Rule 7.2(a)) and misleads about the lawyer's services (Rule 7.1); the lawyer-service fee split violates Rule 5.4…
Can a lawyer not licensed in Illinois represent an Illinois business on transactional and IP matters, and does associating with an Illinois lawyer cure any UPL concern?
The opinion concludes that a non-Illinois lawyer may advise an Illinois business under Rule 5.5(c) if one of its temporary-practice exceptions applies (notably 5.5(c)(1)'s association with an actively…
May an Illinois law firm's shareholder agreement require a departing partner (or that partner's new firm) to share 15% of fees generated at the new firm from clients originated by a retired partner of the old firm?
The opinion concludes no. Such a provision would violate both Rule 1.5(e) (the conditions for fee-sharing across firms cannot be met because the retired partner is providing no legal services and ther…
Can an Illinois lawyer pay to join a for-profit online service that matches consumers with lawyers?
Yes, on these facts, if the matches are automated without the service's discretion, the service does not endorse the lawyer, it stays out of any resulting representation, and the lawyer's fee is reaso…
Can an Illinois lawyer share fees with and pay a referral fee to an out-of-state lawyer who refers a personal-injury case?
Yes. An Illinois lawyer may enter a fee-sharing agreement with, and pay a referral fee to, an out-of-state referring lawyer in a personal-injury matter, so long as the agreement complies with Illinois…
Can class counsel agree to pay the class representative extra out of court-awarded fees if the representative's recovery is less than full damages?
It is risky. The opinion concludes such an agreement creates a substantial risk of an unwaivable Rule 1.7 conflict between the representative and absent class members, and in some circumstances could …
Is an of-counsel lawyer treated as part of the same firm for fee-splitting and conflict-of-interest purposes?
Yes. The opinion concludes an of-counsel lawyer in a close, regular, continuing relationship is in the same firm, so Rule 1.5(e)'s fee-division limits do not apply, but conflicts are imputed under Rul…
Can a lawyer pay a referral fee or share fees with a nonprofit that referred a client?
Only court-awarded fees. A lawyer may share any portion of court-awarded fees with a nonprofit that referred the matter under Rule 5.4(a)(4), but may not share other fees or pay a referral fee unless …
Can a lawyer employed by a non-lawyer company represent the company's customers in their legal matters?
No. A staff attorney for a financial services company may not handle the customers' Social Security appeals: it creates a materially limiting conflict, risks assisting the company's unauthorized pract…
Can a discharged Illinois lawyer enforce a fee-division agreement with the client's new lawyer without the client's written consent?
No. Rule 1.5(e) requires the client's written agreement to any fee division between lawyers not in the same firm, so a discharged-lawyer/successor split without it is unenforceable. The discharged law…
Can a law firm hire a marketing company to distribute ads, screen responses, and be paid a percentage of fees from clients it brings in?
The firm may have a marketing company distribute mailed, posted, and door-to-door ads, but the company may not make personal contact, may not screen responses for merit, and may not be paid a share of…
Can a firm pay a former partner who became a prosecutor a share of a contingent fee earned after he left the firm?
Yes. The opinion concludes a firm may pay a former partner who became a State's Attorney a share of a contingent fee earned after he withdrew, if paid under a separation agreement governed by Rule 1.5…
Can a lawyer-only mediation firm pay a nonlawyer accounting firm a referral fee for sending it mediation clients?
No. The opinion concludes that a mediation firm made up entirely of lawyers may not pay a nonlawyer a referral fee for mediation clients; the arrangement violates Illinois Rules 5.4(a) and 7.2(b) and …
If I pay a contract or temporary lawyer to help on a case, must I tell the client and get consent?
It depends: paying a contract lawyer an hourly rate under close supervision and not billed as a disbursement needs no disclosure, but delegating without close supervision, or paying a percentage of th…
Can a lawyer run a pay-per-call prerecorded legal information line and co-own the venture with a non-lawyer?
The opinion concluded a prerecorded paid legal-information line is not per se improper if the ad complies with the advertising rules, fees for preparing the recording may be shared with a non-lawyer, …
Can an Illinois firm advertise that it 'specializes' in a field, and can it farm work out to outside lawyers without telling the client?
A firm may say it 'concentrates' in a field but may not claim to 'specialize,' and it may not delegate the matter to lawyers outside the firm without the client's disclosure and consent.
Can a lawyer pay a nonlawyer tax representative marketing or consulting fees for referring property-tax assessment cases?
The opinion concluded that it is professionally improper for a lawyer to participate in an arrangement where a nonlawyer engages in the unauthorized practice of law and the lawyer obtains referrals in…
Can an Illinois lawyer take a case where a non-lawyer business pays the fee and steers the client to the lawyer?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may be retained and paid by a third party so long as the third party is authorized to retain the lawyer, does not direct the lawyer's judgment, and the lawyer does not s…
Can a real estate lawyer also act as a title insurance agent and keep the title insurance commissions?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may provide legal services and also conduct title insurance business as an agent, and that Rules 1.5 and 5.4 do not govern the title insurance payments themselves, but t…
Can a law firm hire outside solo attorneys hourly to cover court calls and depositions, and must it tell the client?
The opinion concluded that a firm may hire unaffiliated lawyers on an hourly basis to cover motions and depositions if it obtains the client's informed consent to the delegation under Rules 1.1(c) and…
Can a lawyer take landlord-tenant work referred through a real estate brokers' association?
The opinion concluded that a lawyer may represent property owners (or their agent-managers) through a real estate brokers' association, provided the agents are authorized to employ counsel, there is n…
Can a lawyer review and finalize estate planning documents that a financial planning company gathered information for and drafted, then sent to the client's chosen attorney?
The opinion concluded the lawyer may aid the company's unauthorized practice of law under Rule 5.5(b), because the company advises clients on and prepares the documents before the lawyer's review, and…
Can a lawyer join a collection agency's law list and represent the creditor when the agency, not the creditor, retains and communicates with the lawyer?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may represent a creditor retained through a collection agency acting as the creditor's authorized agent, but must verify that authority, keep independent judgment, may n…
If a lawyer must withdraw from a case because of a conflict of interest, can the lawyer still share in the fee earned after the conflict arose?
The opinion concluded a lawyer who must withdraw for a conflict is not entitled to share in the fees from that matter, and on a non-contingent matter is not entitled to any fee earned after the date t…
Can a lawyer hired by a company that markets living trusts to consumers prepare or review those trusts and split the fee with the company?
The opinion concluded it is professionally improper. Preparing or reviewing trusts an institution sells to consumers creates a conflict between the lawyer's institution-client and the consumers, assis…
When two lawyers properly share a referral fee, do the rules limit how they split the fee, such as 50/50 for a referral?
The opinion concluded that once a referring lawyer and a receiving lawyer comply with the Rule 1.5 requirements for dividing a fee (written client consent disclosing the division and the referring law…
Can a lawyer accept a referral fee in a case where a conflict of interest bars the lawyer from representing that client?
The opinion concluded a lawyer may share fees with a lawyer in another firm only if the Rule 1.5 disclosure and proportionality (or referral) requirements are met, and may not accept a referral fee in…
Can a law firm share office space and a reception area with a financial-planning business that is also its client?
The opinion concluded the arrangement is not improper, so long as the firm keeps its offices separately identified, preserves client confidences, and avoids improper solicitation or fee-sharing with t…
Can a law firm pay a nonlawyer employee a share of profits without violating the ban on fee-sharing with nonlawyers?
The opinion concluded a profit-sharing plan for a nonlawyer employee is proper if the share is based on overall firm profit rather than tied to fees in a particular case, with no incentive to overreac…
If a contingent-fee lawyer is disbarred mid-case, can he recover for work already done, and must the successor lawyer share the fee with him?
The opinion concluded the disbarred lawyer may recover in quantum meruit for the reasonable value of work done before disbarment, but the successor lawyer has no obligation to divide the contingent fe…
When an associate leaves a law firm, may both the associate and the firm contact shared clients about continuing representation, and how are the fees divided?
The opinion concluded that both the departing associate and the firm may seek the clients' consent to continue, and that fees earned during employment are divided per the employment agreement, but the…
Can a law firm build a network of independent-contractor attorneys it is contractually bound to feed work, and label them 'of counsel' or 'affiliates'?
The opinion concluded no; a plan contractually committing a firm to obtain and subcontract work to independent attorneys is not sanctioned by the fee-division rule, undermines the affiliates' independ…
Can a law firm require a departing lawyer to share fees later earned from clients who follow that lawyer to a new practice?
The opinion concluded no; a clause forcing a withdrawing lawyer to pay the firm a percentage of fees from former firm clients who later hire that lawyer divides fees without a proportionate division o…
Can a firm list independent lawyers who only take forwarded work as 'Of Counsel,' and can it pay them a referral fee on those matters?
The opinion concluded the firm may not show independent lawyers who are merely receivers of forwarded business as 'Of Counsel,' because no true continuing relationship exists, but it may pay or charge…
Can a company that uses its own salaried in-house lawyer to foreclose mortgages claim part of that lawyer's salary as a recoverable legal fee from the borrower?
The opinion concluded it is not improper; a thrift institution may claim the portion of its salaried in-house lawyer's salary attributable to a foreclosure as a legal fee, because the lawyer never bec…
Can an incoming partner pay the existing partners more than the firm's physical assets are worth, and then share in fees the firm collects after admission for work done before it?
The opinion concluded that admitting a new partner who pays more than the fair market value of the firm's physical assets is not a prohibited sale of a law practice, and the new partner may share in f…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Illinois State Bar Association interpret the rules of professional conduct for working lawyers, in response to inquiries from members and committees. They are not binding like court discipline decisions, but courts and discipline boards treat formal opinions as substantial guidance on how the rules apply. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the original source on the bar's site.