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net profits ofthe practice area in which the legal assistant is employed. Lawyers may not give anything ofvalue to a person who recommends the lawyer's services, other than paying the reasonable cost ofadvertising or by participating in a not-for-profit referral service. See Rl 191. Furthermore, ethics opinion Rl-146 opines that a lawyer may not accept a referral fee from other professionals for sending the lawyer's clients to the other professional, due to conflict of interest considerations. A difficult fee sharing issue arises when a court awards a lawyer and the client financial sanctions during litigation. Ethics opinion RI-303 advises that the sharing ofthis "fee" between lawyer and client may be justified ifthe lawyer's retainer agreement with the client explicitly allows the sharing. In addition to the ethics opinions summarized here, there are numerous other ethics opinions that address fee sharing issues between lawyers and others. A detailed subject index plus the full text ofall ethics opinions issued by the Standing Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics can be found on the State Bar's website, free ofcharge, at www.michbar.org.
STATE OF MICHIGAN Attomey Discipline Board Grievance Administrator, ( Petitioner/Appellant, v Patricia M. Cooper, P 37389, Respondent!Appellee, Case No. 06-36-GA Decided: September 17, 2007 Appearances: Ruthann Stevens, for the Grievance Administrator (hearing panel; review brief) Robert L. Agacinski, Grievance Administrator (review argument) Donald D. Campbell, for the Respondent (hearing panel: review argument) Patricia M. Cooper, Respondent, In Pro Per (review brief) BOARD OPINION The formal complaint alleges that respondent charged an excessive or illegal fee, l failed to promptly pay funds a client is entitled to receive,2 and failed to refund, upon termination of representation, "any advance payment offee that has not been earned."3 The fee agreement in this case provided that $4,000 was paid to respondent for work to be performed in a divorce matter. The agreement characterized this as a "minimum fee," stated that it entitled the client to attorney time at a certain hourly rate, and provided that no partofthe minimum fee would be refundable. A few weeks after retaining the respondent, the client changed her mind about the divorce and asked for an itemization and a refund of unearned fees. After continued requests bythe client, resporident eventuallyprepared a bill for $1 ,228.50 and, "out ofthe goodness ofher heart," refunded $1,385.75, thus bringing the total amount kept by respondent to $2,614.25. The hearing panel dismissed the formal complaint. I MRPC 1.5(a) 2 MRPC 1.l5(b) 3 MRPC 1.l6(d) ( -------_.- -_.._--
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