LSC attacks fraud panel referral fees
Legal Week reports
January 23, 2002 at 07:03 PM
2 minute read
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has attacked high street firms for attempting to charge a fee for referring clients on to specialist firms on its serious fraud panel.
The LSC has been alerted to the practice by firms on the specialist panel which object to being asked to pay money to other firms in order to take on publicly-funded cases.
But although one senior Chancery Lane source described the practice as "scandalous", the Law Society says that the firms in question are not breaking its rules.
One of the panel firms to have received such requests – and resisted them – is niche Fleet Street specialist Corker Binning.
"I have been approached with an offer of work together with a request for payment and I declined that offer," said name partner David Corker.
Another lawyer from a top London fraud firm said he had rejected a similar approach for fear it was illegal.
"We have heard the reports," an LSC spokesman told Legal Week. "The LSC does not approve of or encourage this practice."
Although fee-sharing among lawyers is not banned by the Law Society, a number of senior Law Society figures have expressed concern about the practice.
"The problem I see is that both solicitors may be putting their interests ahead of the client – they have to be content that they have exercised their referral choice on an honourable basis," said Edward Nally, who chairs the Law Society's standards board.
However, a Law Society spokesperson said: "Our professional rules do not prohibit referrals between solicitors – indeed when the referral is to a solicitor with particular expertise in the work, that will be very much in the client's interests."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSkadden to Close in Shanghai and Make Cuts to China Corporate Practice
DWF Group's Canadian Firm Set to Add Fourth Office With 16-Lawyer Montreal Team
UK Law Firms Face £75M Money Laundering Investigations Alongside Russia Scrutiny
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: Playing the Talent Game to Win
- 2A&O Shearman Adopts 3-Level Lockstep Pay Model Amid Shift to All-Equity Partnership
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 5A RICO Surge Is Underway: Here's How the Allstate Push Might Play Out
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250