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Lawyer Censured For Paying Referral Fees

Per The New Jersey Law Journal:

"The state Supreme Court has censured a lawyer for paying 131 unauthorized referral fees totaling $142,432 over a six-year period.

"David Bolson, a South Orange solo, concentrates his practice in workers' compensation but has never been certified by the court in that specialty or any other, such as would allow fee splitting under Rule 1:39-6(d).

"As a noncertified lawyer, Bolson violated Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5(e), which allows fee divisions only if in proportion to the services performed by each lawyer or if each assumes joint responsibility in a written agreement with the client.

"According to the Disciplinary Review Board, which recommended the censure, a random audit in October 2011 turned up evidence that Bolson was paying what he had documented as "forwarding fees" to lawyers who had referred him contingent-fee matters.

"The Office of Attorney Ethics directed Bolson to document all referral fees paid since 2006."

Full article after the jump...