N.Y. Lawyers Can Accept Referral Fees In Retirement

Retired New York lawyers can ask for and accept referral fees for work they’ve turned over to another lawyer for safekeeping that evolves into additional work, the state bar’s ethics committee advised.

The attorney has to assume joint responsibility for that work, which requires maintaining the attorney’s registration, the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics said in the Oct. 3 opinion.

The opinion is a straightforward application of the division of fee rule, Stephen Gillers, an ethics professor with New York University School of Law, said in an email.

A trusts and estates lawyer about to ...