Firms Won’t Split Fee Despite Wrongful Conduct Allegation

A law firm won’t be sharing its fees from a class action with the firm that referred it the case.

Barnes Crosby Fitzgerald & Zeman LLP didn’t show that Ringler Kearney Alvarez LLP unfairly blocked it from getting the written client consent required to split fees under the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, ruled.

Though the Rules require written consent, in an earlier decision in the case the appeals court clarified that the rule doesn’t apply where one firm wrongfully prevents the other from getting the consent.

Barnes LLP argued that RKA ...