Oklahoma Bar Association Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Oklahoma Bar Association, with full citations and source links on every page.
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Can a fee contract set the lawyer's contingent percentage on the combined total of the damages award and a statutory attorney's fee award?
Yes, within limits. The committee concluded a lawyer may contract for a contingent percentage of the aggregate of damages and statutory attorney's fees if the agreement meets the 50% statutory cap and…
Can a contingent-fee agreement base the lawyer's percentage on the combined total of the damages award and statutory attorney's fees?
Yes, within limits. The committee concluded a lawyer may contract for a contingent percentage of the aggregate of damages and statutory attorney's fees if the agreement meets the 50% statutory cap and…
Can a lawyer who owns a chiropractic clinic refer personal-injury clients there and let the clinic defer its bills until the case settles?
No, not on these facts. The committee concluded that the lawyer's ownership interest in a clinic that defers a personal-injury client's bills until settlement makes the deferral the lawyer's own prohi…
Can a lawyer in an eminent domain case give the court-appointed commissioners ex parte material to influence their valuation while withholding it from opposing counsel?
No. The committee concluded that improperly influencing the commissioners' valuation, and concealing or contradicting evidence between the commissioners and opposing counsel, is unethical and violates…
Can a lawyer take a contingent percentage of the client's own medical-payments (med-pay) insurance when the insurer hasn't disputed coverage?
Not as a blanket matter, and often not. The committee concluded it is not per se unreasonable, but a contingent percentage appropriate for a third-party recovery would probably be excessive and unreas…
May a lawyer charge a contingent fee in a divorce case, tied to obtaining the decree or to the property and alimony the client recovers?
No. The committee, readopting a 1932 opinion, concluded that a contingent fee contract in a divorce case is against public policy and void, because it gives the lawyer a personal interest in preventin…
Can a lawyer call a witness who is being paid a percentage of the recovery for testifying?
No. The Board concluded that knowingly calling a witness compensated on a contingent percentage of the recovery for his testimony is improper and contrary to public policy, and violates Rule 31's duty…
Can a lawyer fund an indigent client's litigation expenses on a contingent-fee basis when the client likely cannot repay?
No. The Board concluded that Rule 44 lets a lawyer advance expenses only subject to definite reimbursement; financing an indigent client's litigation with no real prospect of repayment is improper cha…
Could a sitting mayor take an assigned share of the contingent fee in the city's own litigation and then vote, as a commissioner, on its settlement?
No. The Board condemned a mayor who took an assigned interest in the contingent fee for the city's litigation while on the city commission, then voted on the settlement; it violated Oklahoma public po…
Could a contingent-fee lawyer hire an accountant whose pay would come only out of the contingent fee, by assigning the accountant a share of that fee?
No. The Board concluded a lawyer on a contingent fee could not pay an accountant solely out of, and by assigning an interest in, the contingent fee; it improperly divides fees with a non-lawyer under …
Could a lawyer charge and collect a contingent fee from a workers' compensation claimant that exceeded the fee the Industrial Commission allowed?
The Board concluded that collecting from the proceeds of a workers' compensation award an attorney fee greater than the amount the Industrial Commission allowed would subject the lawyer to disciplinar…
Can lawyers pay a nonlawyer expert witness a contingent fee carved out of the lawyers' own contingent fee?
The Board concluded it would not be proper for the lawyers to pay the pollution engineer a contingent fee out of their own contingent fee, nor for the city to employ the engineer on a contingent fee d…
Can a lawyer serve as regional counsel for a union's injury-claims bureau that investigates members' claims and shares a contingent fee with the organization?
The Board concluded the arrangement violated Rule 37 because a lay agency would intervene between lawyer and client to handle members' individual affairs, and it created a personal-interest conflict b…
Can a lawyer charge a contingent fee in a divorce case, tied to securing the divorce and to the property or alimony obtained?
The Board concluded no. Contingent-fee contracts in divorce cases are void as against public policy, because they give the lawyer a personal interest in preventing reconciliation, and a divorce is not…
In a fifty-percent contingent-fee case, must litigation costs be deducted before the fee is split, and can a lawyer take fifty percent of the gross recovery while the client pays all costs?
The Board suggested that costs should be deducted from the gross recovery first and the residue split, because the statute caps the fee at fifty percent of the net amount; a contract giving the lawyer…
Can an Oklahoma lawyer who collects a commercial claim forwarded by a lay collection agency remit part of the contingent fee to that forwarder?
The Board of Governors concluded yes. Rule 36 contained an express exception allowing the established custom of sharing commissions at a commonly accepted rate on commercial-claim collections between …
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Legal ethics opinions from the Oklahoma 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.