Avvo, LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer Declared Off-Limits by N.J. Supreme Court
Avvo facilitates improper fee-splitting, while LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer operate legal service plans that aren't registered with the judiciary, according to the June 21 opinion.
June 22, 2017 at 10:10 AM
6 minute read
A joint opinion by three New Jersey Supreme Court committees has blacklisted three web-based services that match litigants with attorneys because of concerns over illicit fee-sharing and referral fees.
Avvo facilitates improper fee-splitting, while LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer operate legal service plans that aren't registered with the judiciary, according to the June 21 opinion, issued by the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, the Committee on Attorney Advertising and the Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law.
The opinion decrees that “New Jersey lawyers may not participate in the Avvo legal service programs because the programs improperly require the lawyer to share a legal fee with a nonlawyer in violation of Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4(a), and pay an impermissible referral fee in violation of Rule of Professional Conduct 7.2(c) and 7.3(d).”
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