Legal Ethics in the Era of Law Firm Mergers and Vereins: Fee-Splitting, Referral, Conflicts and Other Ethical Issues

The legal industry has seen a record-breaking flurry of merger and consolidation activity in 2018. More law firms of all sizes are pursuing mergers or acquisitions, a trend that is expected to continue as law firms continue to grow in size and scope.

Some of the largest firms have chosen to assume the structure of a "verein," a Swiss style partnership in which firms combine some functions--such as marketing and brand management--while maintaining independent financial and legal entities. Vereins have been criticized as shortcuts to mergers that create incentives to put a firm's interests before a client's because they rely too heavily on referrals from the affiliated partner firms.

The growth of law firms and the creation of "mega firms" with non-traditional business structures raises potential legal ethics challenges, particularly regarding referrals, fee-splitting, cost-sharing and conflicts of interest. Balancing a desire to integrate partner firms' marketing and brand identity while segregating finances and limiting liability and conflicts can lead to ethical missteps.

Listen as our authoritative panel discusses the potentially thorny ethical issues law firms and attorneys face in an era of increasing firm mergers and growth. The panel will explore vereins and other alternative firm structures, outline the legal ethics challenges these mega firms present--including referral, fee-splitting and cost-sharing issues--and offer best practices for complying with ethical rules as law firms continue to merge, grow and globalize.