LEO: Conflict of Interests/Referrals Based on  LE Op. 479

 

Conflict of Interests/Referrals Based on Pro Bono Work.

 

July 21, 1982

 

It would not be ethically improper for a private attorney to participate

in an open panel of attorneys set up by a local legal aid office to

receive paying referrals on a rotating basis in consideration of the

attorney also accepting pro bono work referred by the legal aid office.

 

The legal aid attorney, however, who refers a paying client to such an

attorney must be certain to do so with the client's needs in mind,

realizing that a participating attorney may not always be the one who

meets those needs. [See Canon 5.]

 

Committee Opinion July 21, 1982