Virginia State Bar Ethics Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of legal ethics opinions issued by the Virginia State Bar, with full citations and source links on every page.
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If a Virginia lawyer is 'of counsel' to a firm, are the firm's clients and conflicts imputed to that lawyer?
Yes. An 'of counsel' lawyer is associated with the firm for conflict purposes, so conflicts are imputed both ways under Rule 1.10(a) and cannot be screened around. A genuinely limited independent-cont…
Can a Virginia lawyer who practices only patent law before the USPTO form a partnership or share fees with a non-lawyer registered patent agent?
Yes, in this narrow setting. Although Rule 5.4 bars partnering or sharing fees with a non-lawyer, federal patent regulations preempt that rule for a practice devoted solely to patent law before the US…
Can a corporation's in-house lawyer do legal work for a commonly-owned sister corporation, and can the employer charge the sister company for it?
Yes, with consent and safeguards. In-house counsel may represent a sister corporation directly and independently with the employer's consent, preserving each client's confidences; the employer may rec…
When a note sets attorney's fees at a percentage of the debt, can the lawyer pay the client lender the part of the collected fee that exceeds the lawyer's actual hourly charges?
The opinion concludes that returning the excess of a contractual percentage attorney's-fee award over the lawyer's actual fee to the client lender does not violate Rule 5.4(a)'s bar on sharing legal f…
Can a lawyer let a finance company front the client's fee in exchange for keeping a discounted portion of that fee?
The opinion concludes no. An arrangement in which a finance company advances the lawyer a discounted lump sum and keeps the discount as its share of the legal fee is impermissible fee-sharing with a n…
Can a nonprofit lawyer referral service run by a local bar association charge participating attorneys a percentage of the fees they collect, instead of a flat fee?
Yes. The opinion concludes a nonprofit bar-run referral service may charge a percentage fee, treating it as the usual and reasonable fee of a referral service under Rule 7.3(d) rather than impermissib…
Can a staff lawyer or volunteer lawyer turn over court-awarded attorney's fees to the nonprofit public-interest organization that sponsored the case?
Yes. The opinion concludes that turning over court-awarded fees to a nonprofit public-interest organization that sponsored the litigation does not violate Rule 5.4(a)'s bar on sharing legal fees with …
Can a Virginia law firm form a partnership with a foreign legal consultant who is treated as a nonlawyer and is not admitted to practice in any U.S. state?
No. The opinion concluded it would be improper under Rule 5.4 for a Virginia attorney to form a partnership or professional limited liability company with a foreign legal consultant who is a nonlawyer…
Can a Virginia lawyer pay a referring lawyer a share of the fee when the referring lawyer takes no responsibility for the case and does no further work?
Yes. The opinion concludes that, unlike the former Code, Rule 1.5(e) no longer requires the referring lawyer to assume responsibility to the client in order to share a fee, so a division is permissibl…
Is a contract requiring a departing lawyer to pay his old firm a percentage of contingency fees on cases he takes with him proper, and must the new firm honor it?
The opinion concluded the fee-splitting agreement was improper. It violated the former rule on dividing fees between lawyers in different firms (no client consent, and the old firm would assume no res…
Can a lawyer pay a nonlawyer referral business a percentage of the recovery for sending clients, or a set fee instead?
No to both, on these facts. The opinion concluded that paying a nonlawyer a percentage of the recovery for referrals is improper fee-splitting with a nonlawyer and compensates a nondelegable solicitat…
Can a referring lawyer take a share of the fee from the lawyer he sent the case to when he did none of the work?
The committee concluded that a pure referral fee was improper: the 'assumption of responsibility' that lets lawyers in different firms divide a fee required the referring lawyer to provide meaningful …
When a partner moves to a firm on the other side of pending cases, can a screen let the new firm keep those cases, and can the partner keep a financial interest in his old firm's fees?
The committee concluded that a screen could not cure the side-switch conflict, because the former-client rule requires the former clients' consent; absent it, neither the lawyer nor his new firm could…
When a partner leaves a firm, what may the remaining partners do about that partner's clients, files, and a liability release?
The committee concluded that the remaining firm may not solicit a departing partner's clients in person to keep them, may not extract an assignment of settlement proceeds or require a release of liabi…
Can a lawyer accept a forwarding (referral) fee on a case he had to forward to other counsel because of a conflict of interest?
The committee concluded it would be improper to accept a forwarding fee on a case forwarded because of a conflict, because the forwarding lawyer cannot expressly assume responsibility to the client as…
Can a law firm form and invest in a for-profit subsidiary that provides non-legal services to the firm's clients?
The committee concluded the general concept of a firm owning a non-legal services subsidiary did not violate the Canons, but flagged that the arrangement raised concerns under the rules on unauthorize…
Can a Virginia lawyer split a fee with an out-of-state attorney who refers a criminal case and acts only as an interpreter?
The committee concluded the proposed fee split was not improper so long as the client consented to the additional employment and the division terms and both attorneys assumed responsibility after full…
Can a lawyer join a trade-and-barter association that takes a 10 percent cut of every trade, lists the lawyer as a member, and refers business to the lawyer?
The committee concluded that the association's 10 percent clearinghouse charge would be improper fee sharing with a nonlawyer under DR 3-102, that listing the lawyer was permissible only if not false …
Can two unrelated law firms list each other as "of counsel" on their letterheads and pay a 10 percent origination fee on referred work without telling the client?
The committee concluded that it was improper for each firm to list the other as "of counsel" on its letterhead and improper to permit a 10 percent origination fee, and it retracted an earlier opinion …
Can a group of law firms incorporate to share expertise and split referral fees, and pay a percentage of fees to the shared entity?
The committee found no ethical bar to a group of firms incorporating to share expertise and refer matters, with fees split between referring and working attorneys on client disclosure and consent, and…
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Legal ethics opinions from the Virginia State Bar 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.