NY State Bar Partially Allows Referral Fees for Retired Lawyers

Attorneys who retire and leave their unresolved caseload to others can only receive referral fees if they maintain joint responsibility for the cases in question, the New York State Bar Association said.

A sole practitioner who practiced contingency-fee personal injury law in New York before they retired asked the bar if changing their status to “retired” would affect fee arrangements on the referred cases. They also asked if they may end joint responsibility of the cases.

The bar said that, while the status with the Office of Court Administration doesn’t alone affect membership in the bar, a retired recipient of ...