California Fee-Sharing Ban Gets Challenge From Mass Tort Firms

A mass tort law firm is asking a California federal court to halt the state’s prohibition on sharing legal fees with firms owned by non-lawyers.

Los Angeles-based R. Brent Wisner and his Phoenix-based firm, Eleos Law, filed the complaint Tuesday in the Central District of California, naming the State Bar of California and state Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) as defendants. It calls on the court to enjoin the state’s bar and attorney general from enforcing the “unconstitutional” California Assembly Bill 931, which prohibits lawyers in the state from sharing fees with firms outside the state that have non-lawyer owners. ...