Advisory Opinion: 1638

Year Issued: 1995

RPC(s): RPC 1.5

Subject: Division of fees; lawyer shares fees with collection agency client

The Committee understood the facts to be that you have a client which is a collection agency, which has asked you to collect on claims owned by the agency. The Committee was of the opinion that as long as it is clear that the lawyer was collecting on claims owned by his client, and so long as your fee agreement complied with the requirements of RPC 1.5, there would be no problem with fee splitting and it would be a proper arrangement.

Advisory Opinions are provided for the education of the Bar and reflect the opinion of the Committee on Professional Ethics (CPE) or its predecessors. Advisory Opinions are provided pursuant to the authorization granted by the Board of Governors, but are not individually approved by the Board and do not reflect the official position of the Bar association. Laws other than the Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct may apply to the inquiry. The Committee's answer does not include or opine about any other applicable law other than the meaning of the Rules of Professional Conduct.