ARTICLE ONE PURPOSE SECTION 1. It is the purpose of the Lawyer Referral Service to assist the public in obtaining referral s to qualified attorneys and to provide information on legal subjects of general interest to the public. ARTICLE TWO ORGANIZATION SECTION 1. These Rules shall be called Rules of Operation of the Lawyer Referral Service of the Sacramento County Bar Association. SECTION 2. Under the direction of the LRS committee and the Executive Director of the SCBA, the LRS clerk[s] will receive requests from the public for legal assistance from an attorney. These requests will be by mail, email, telephone or through the website. NO Walk-In referrals are accepted. SECTION 3. The Service shall be operated, in accordance with these Rules and the Minimum Standards for a Lawyer Referral Service in California, which Minimum Standards and any amendments thereto as may be adopted from time to time by the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California, are incorporated by reference herein As though fully set forth at length. Any conflict between the body of these Rules and the Minimum Standards as adopted by the State Bar shall be resolved by reference to the Minimum Standards. The Service shall be administered by the Committee of the Lawyer Referral Service of the Sacramento County Bar Association. ARTICLE THREE ADMINISTRATION SECTION 1. Any member in good standing of the State Bar of California engaged in active practice of the law with offices in Sacramento County may apply for registration with the Service. If the attorney is a member of the SCBA, dues will be set periodically by the LRS Committee; otherwise no dues for membership are required. If an attorney is not a member of the SCBA, a fee of $185 shall be charged. Dues are based on a calendar year, no proration. SECTION 2. Attorneys on the LRS panel serve with the knowledge that they may receive a fee generating case. The referral fee covers the cost of operation. In this respect it is extremely important that these procedures be followed: a. Panel attorney must be willing to give up one half hour of their time to consult with the client at no cost beyond the referral fees 1
b. It must be made perfectly clear to the client [by the attorney] when the attorney begins to charge for legal services. Do not fail to do so. c. The LRS places no restriction on the fee charged by a panel attorney if they get a fee generating case from the referral, as long as they DO NOT charge more than they would for a non-lrs client. d. Panel attorneys shall not refer the client to a friend or another attorney if they do not want the case. The referral MUST come back to the LRS e. If you do refer a case [without LRS consent] you will be held responsible for the total attorney fees even if you do not receive any fee yours f. The senior attorney in a firm [who belongs to the LRS] SHALL NOT direct the referral to a junior member or a paralegal in the firm for consultation or to handle the case g. Violation of D, E., F can lead to removal from the service h. When the consultation with the client has been completed, the attorney must complete the appropriate portion of the referral form and return it with ten working days of the consultation. At that time the attorney should fill out the percentage fee information, sign the form. Percentages of referral types are as follows: 10% for Workers Compensation, Social Security and Landlord/Tenant cases and 15% for all other cases. A fee is not considered collected until it has been paid to the attorney s business account or transferred from the attorney s trust account. Retainers are not collected fees until earned i. Quarterly billings are sent at the end of each quarter for the percentage updates. j. The attorney shall return quarterly billing forms to the LRS office, properly completed and updated with the percentage of fees collected to date no later than 20 working days from invoice date k. The attorney shall be billed for each case on a quarterly basis until that cases closes and all fees have been paid to the LRS. l. Failure to comply with the procedures or failure to report fee information can lead to removal from the service m. If an attorney cannot [or will not] assist a referral, the referral shall be sent back to the LRS. The LRS will, at no further fee to the client, give the client a second referral. If the second referral cannot help, the client will receive a third appointment at no charge. All clients are entitled to only 3 referrals pertaining to the same legal problem. n. A third referral can/will be sent to an LRS committee member for special handling o. Attorneys are categorized by area of legal experience or interest. The attorney must make note of the types of cases they are willing to handle or the types of cases they will specifically handle. Once a year this portion of the contract will be sent to the attorney for review and revision p. Legal area determinations shall be made by completing the forms, or by selecting Experience Panels. These choices may be modified upon written notice to the LRS if said changes need to be made before the end of the year 2
q. The LRS established Experience Panels in several areas. LRS attorneys may apply to join as many panels as their qualifications permit. When joining LRS, the attorney will belong to the general panel, and will select from the Experience Panels for which they qualify. Only those that qualify will receive referrals. r. All panel attorneys are required to have malpractice insurance coverage of a minimum of $100,000 for each occurrence and $300,000 aggregate per year. Failure to keep this coverage current shall be cause for removal form the panel. SECTION 3. The LRS Committee shall review each application for an Experience panel and shall evaluate, and at its option, investigate, the qualifications of the registrant for each Experience panel requested in light of the current qualifications on file in the office of the Service. All applications for membership shall be in the form of a declaration under penalty of perjury with respect to the satisfaction of requirements form membership in the Service or panel thereof. If, in their opinion after evaluation or investigation, any registrant is not qualified to serve on such Experience panel, the LRS Committee shall reject his/her application for membership, shall so advise him/her in writing, shall specify the reasons for its decision and shall inform him/her that [s]he has ten [10] days within which to request a hearing before the LRS Committee. SECTION 4. For good cause, the LRS Committee may review the qualifications of any member of any preference panel. If, in the LRS Committee s opinion after such review, a member of any Experience panel is not then qualified to serve on such a panel, the LRS Committee shall suspend or remove said member s name from such panel, shall so advise the member in writing, shall specify the reasons for its decision and shall inform him/her that [s]he has ten [10] days within which to request a hearing before the LRS Committee. SECTION 5. Upon proof satisfactory to the majority of the LRS Committee of a violation or any of these Articles or any rule of professional conduct of the state Bar of California, or of a failure to handle referred cases with reasonable professional competence and diligence, or a substantial over-charging of referred clients as determined by the State Bar of California; or by falsification of any material statement made to qualify for any panel or made in any required report, or a failure to do any of the following: a. Pay the annual fee b. Forward all referral fees when due c. Submit all required reports d. Comply with all rules of the Service and/or maintain continuous eligibility, a panel member s name may be suspended or removed from the Service upon written notification to the panel member of the reasons for the LRS Committee s action. Said written notification shall inform the panel member the [s]he has ten [10] days 3
SECTION 6. within which to request a hearing before the LRS Committee. In all cases in which the LRS Committee has given written notice of rejection, suspension, or removal to a registrant or panel member pursuant to Section 4, 5 or 6 of these Rules of Operation, the registrant or panel member shall have ten [10] days following the date of the receipt of such notice within which to request a hearing before the LRS Committee. Said request shall be by notice to the Executive Director of the LRS. In the event the registrant or panel member does not request a hearing within the time and in the manner hereinabove set forth, [s]he shall be deemed to have accepted the action involved and it shall thereupon become effective immediately. Upon receipt of a request for hearing, the Executive Director shall deliver such request to the LRS Committee. The LRS Committee shall within thirty [30] days after receipt of such request, schedule and arrange for a hearing. The LRS Committee shall give notice to the registrant or panel member of the time, place and date of the hearing. The date of the commencement of the hearing shall not be less than forty-five [45] days, nor more than sixty [60] days for the date of receipt of the request by the Executive Director for a hearing. Failure without good cause of the person requesting the hearing to appear and proceed at such a hearing, shall be deemed to constitute voluntary acceptance of the actions involved with shall become final and effective immediately. Postponements and extensions of time beyond the times expressly permitted in these Rules of Operation may be requested by anyone, but shall be permitted by the LRS Committee or its Chair acting upon its behalf on showing good cause. Within ten [10] days after final adjournment of the hearing, the LRS Committee shall render a decision by majority vote. A copy of said decision shall be forwarded to the LRS Committee. The decision shall contain a concise statement of the reasons justifying it. At the same time, a copy of the decision shall be delivered by registered or certified mail to the person who requested the hearing. The decision of the LRS Committee shall be considered final. SECTION 7. Under no circumstances shall the hearing be conducted without the personal presence of the person requesting the hearing unless [s]he has waived such appearance or has failed without good cause to appear after appropriate notice. Neither the person requesting the hearing, the LRS Committee, shall be represented in any phase of the hearing or appeals procedure by an attorney at law unless the LRS Committee, in its discretion, permits representation by legal counsel. The Chair of the LRS, or his/her designee shall preside at the hearing. The presiding officer shall have the authority and discretion, in accordance with these Rules of Operation, to make all rulings on questions which pertain to matters of law and to the admissibility of evidence. The Chair shall appoint another member of the Committee to act as the prosecuting officer at the hearing. The prosecuting officer shall 4
represent the evidence and arguments against the registrant or panel member who requested the hearing. The prosecuting officer shall not participate in the deliberations or decision of the LRS Committee. The LRS Committee may maintain a record of the hearing by one of the following methods: minutes of the proceedings, or recording. The LRS Committee may, but shall not be required to order that oral evidence shall be taken only on oath or affirmation administered by any person designated by such body and entitled to notarize documents in the State of California. At a hearing, both the person requesting the hearing and the LRS Committee shall have the following rights: To call and examine witnesses, to introduce exhibits, to cross-examine any witness on any matter relevant to the issues, to impeach any witness and to rebut any evidence. If the registrant or panel member does not testify in his/her own behalf, [s]he may be called and examined as if under crossexamination. The hearing shall not be conducted according to rules of law relating to the examination of witnesses or presentation of evidence. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted by the presiding officer if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the admissibility of such evidence in a court of law. The person requesting the hearing and the LRS Committee shall have the right to submit a memorandum of points and authorities. The presiding officer shall have the discretion to take official notice of any members either technical or scientific, relating to the issues under consideration which could have been judicially noticed by the courts of this State. Participants in the hearing shall be informed of the matters to be officially noticed and they shall be noted in the record of the hearing. The decision of the LRS Committee shall be based on the evidence produced at the hearing. This evidence may consist of the following: a. Oral testimony of witnesses b. Briefs, or memorandum of points and authority presented in connection with the hearing c. Any material contained in the LRS files regarding the person who requested the hearing d. Any and all applications, referenced, and accompany documents e. All officially noticed matters; and f. Any other admissible evidence It shall be incumbent on the person who requested the hearing to initially come forward with evidence in support of his/her position. In all cases in which a hearing is conducted under these Rules of Operation, after all the evidence has been submitted, the LRS Committee shall rules against the person who requested the hearing unless it finds that said person has proved, by clear an d convincing proof that the action of the LRS Committee was arbitrary, unreasonable or to sustained by the evidence The presiding office may adjourn the hearing and reconvene the same at the conveniences of the participants without special notice. Upon conclusion of the presentation of oral and written evidence, the hearing shall be closed. The LRS Committee shall thereupon, outside of the presence of any other person conduct its deliberations and renders a decision. 5
Except as otherwise provided in these Rules of Operation, no registrant or panel member shall be entitled as a matter of right to more than one hearing before the LRS Committee on any single matter which may be the subject of an appeal. SECITON 8. Any panel member may withdraw from the Service upon giving five [5] days written notice to the RLS Committee and completion of all payments and reports on all unreported referrals. SECTION 9 A master file of registration records of all members of the Service shall be maintained by the Executive Director of the Service. Reference of cases will be on a rotation basis, subject to the foreign language and geographic considerations. SECTION 10. Disputes as to fees, at the request of the client, shall be submitted to the Standing Committee on Fee Arbitration. When an attorney first becomes aware of a fee dispute [s]he shall provide the client with a written notice of his/her right to arbitrate, submitted a copy of this letter to the Sacramento County Bar Association. 6