Advisory Opinion:
1956
Year Issued:
2001
RPC(s):
RPC 7.3(a)
Subject:
Whether a lawyer referral service's lawyer may initiate a call to a referral client
The inquirer asks whether or not it is permissible under RPC 7.3(a) for attorneys participating in a county bar association lawyer referral service to initiate telephone contact with prospective clients who have been referred to them by the lawyer referral service. Such contact is made after receipt by the attorneys of a written conformation of referral and before any attempt by the prospective clients to initiate contact with the attorneys.
The committee opined that it is not permissible under RPC 7.3(a) for the participating attorneys to initiate telephone or personal contact with prospective clients who have been referred to them by a county bar association lawyer referral service. This is because, as is the expectation of the prophylactic prohibition of RPC 7.3(a), the attorneys will usually have pecuniary gain as a significant motivation in making such contact. The attorney-client relationship does not properly exist unless and until the potential client has first made contact with the attorney. Attorneys administering the lawyer referral service must also take care not to risk violating the provisions of RPC 8.4(a) by facilitating conduct known to be outside the bounds of RPC 7.3(a). Possible measures to assist referral attorneys in avoiding violation of RPC 8.4(a) may include the timely seeking of this committee’s opinion, the circulation of the committee’s response among attorneys participating in the lawyer referral service, the inclusion of language in referral confirmation notices that reminds participating attorneys of the RPC 7.3(a) ban on direct solicitation and that the county bar association does not sanction this practice in the context of the lawyer referral service or elsewhere, and, finally, that the county bar association has an aspirational duty under RPC 8.3(b) to report violations of RPC 7.3(a) of which they are aware.
***
