Ethics of Co-Counsel and Referral Relationships

course

COURSE INFO

  • Available Until 5/31/2025
  • Next Class Time 1:00 PM ET
  • Duration 60 min.
  • Format MP3 Download
  • Program Code 05302023
  • Ethics Credits 1 hour(s)


Course Price: $79.00
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COURSE DESCRIPTION

Co-counsel and referral relationships are common in law practice.  Lawyers associate with other lawyers on cases to gain specialized knowledge required for competent representation in a case.Litigation counsel may seek local counsel on a case in another jurisdiction.  Lawyers also refer out business for a variety of reasons, including overflow work or the work is outside of a lawyer’s core competencies.  These any many other co-counsel and referral relationships, however, raise substantial ethical and malpractice issues.  This program will provide you with a framework for understanding the ethical issues surrounding co-counsel and referral relationships.

 

  • Duty to supervise counsel to whom you have referred work
  • Associating with other lawyers or firms to gain competence in specific areas
  • Fee splitting in co-counsel or referral relationships
  • Liability to co-counsel for breaches of fiduciary duty or malpractice
  • Liability for errors of co-counsel
  • Duty to inform of malpractice by co-counsel

 

Speakers:

Brian S. Faughnan is special counsel in the Memphis office of Thomason Hendrix Harvey Johnson & Mitchell, PLLC, where he represents clients in a wide variety of matters at the trial level and on appeal.  He counsels lawyers and law firms on a wide variety of issues surrounding legal ethics and professional responsibility. He is the chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, a reporter for the committee’s rules revision project, a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and a member of the Media Law Resource Center’s Ethics Committee.