Important Letter From IRTA Concerning Attorneys and Barter
I received this from Ron Whitney at IRTA yesterday, and found it important enough to reproduce in its entirety:
Tyler:
It was good talking with you again today.
You may have seen over the years where some States have taken a negative view of attorneys joining barter exchanges based on the misplaced arguments that it represents fee splitting or an improper referral from a non-lawyer.
We are facing a problem in North Carolina where the Bar association there has submitted a proposed opinion that would effectively prohibit attorneys from participating in barter exchanges in North Carolina. Clearly, if this negative stance were adopted, it could spread and cause problems for the industry nationally. Consequently, I have submitted to the NC Bar Association the attached memorandum in opposition to their proposed opinion. I will be arguing the matter in front of the Ethics Committee of the NC Bar next week on April 15th, along with Maurya Lane from Barter Business Exchange in Carey, NC. Also, Gary Oshry from NATE has written a letter to the NC Bar in opposition to the proposed opinion, so this has been a cooperative/collective effort from all interested parties to put a halt to the matter.
Many barter exchanges are unaware or confused by their own State’s stance on this important issue. Hopefully the attached information can be a valuable resource piece for those organizations and/or any other exchanges seeking to understand the issue.
Best personal regards,
Ron Whitney
IRTA Executive Director
UC Administrator
524 Middle Street
Portsmouth, VA 23704
PH: 757-393-2292
FAX: 757-257-4014
ron@irta.com
www.irta.com
Click here for to read the official response from IRTA to the North Carolina Board.
How ironic that an industry that isn’t exactly on anyone’s top ten favorite list… would attempt to halt something that might actually present lawyers as something more then money grubbing, ambulance chasers.
If anything, the NC Bar should embrace the concept of lawyers willing to work on trade… for PR reasons alone.
Hopefully this is something the IRTA and NATE will be able to articulate.
Granted there are enough REAL issues the NC Bar should be worried about in regards to the legal profession in their state.
At the same time, however, lawyers who barter their services…. is certainly NOT a bad thing.
Here’s hoping the NC Bar chooses not to eliminate something that is actually positive for the very legal industry they purport to represent.
Vegas Vince
Barter Arbitrage
Attorneys joining a barter exchange has always been an issue based on a misconception of many Bar Associations throughout the country.
Most or perhaps all bar associations do not permit fee splitting, referral fees and commissions paid to non-lawyers that refer cases to an attorney.
Factually, a barter exchange does not charge a fee for referring new clients to an attorney. A barter exchange charges a transaction fee for processing a trade transaction and depositing the funds to a seller’s barter account, no different than American Express or Visa, which charges a discount rate for processing cash sales and settling funds to a businesses checking account.
On the buy side of a transaction, a barter exchange charges a transaction fee for assisting a member to spend trade dollars and conserve their cash, much like a purchasing agent would charge them a fee (or earn a salary) to facilitate purchasing.