Ethics Question of the Month November 2025

Help Wanted

Can an attorney agree to pay a nonlawyer-owned company for support services based on a percentage of law firm revenues?

The Situation

Attorney Mark owns a civil litigation law firm. The firm’s practice is thriving, and Mark is interested in utilizing a third party to provide support services to the firm.

XYZ Business offers a platform of support services to law firms. Mark recently met with Tina, the nonlawyer owner of XYZ, who proposed an arrangement for services wherein XYZ would charge Mark’s firm periodic fees based on a percentage of the firm’s revenues. Under the proposed arrangement, all of the firm’s revenue information would be pooled and anonymized, and XYZ would not receive a client list from the firm. According to Tina, XYZ would not be able to associate any revenue with any particular client of the firm. XYZ does not provide legal services, and participating firms direct and oversee the use of XYZ’s platform.

Mark thinks the support services described could really help his firm’s practice.

The Question

According to a recent Professional Ethics Committee opinion, which of the following most accurately describes whether the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct allow Mark to agree to the proposed arrangement?

The Correct Answer is D Of 10 Responses, 60% are correct.

  1. A 1
  2. B 3
  3. C 0
  4. D 6
  5. E 0
  6. F 0
  7. G 0
  8. H 0
  9. I 0

The Explanation

With certain exceptions not applicable here, Rule 5.04(a) of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct provides that a “lawyer or law firm shall not share or promise to share legal fees with a non-lawyer . . . .” So how does this provision apply to the situation at hand?

In Ethics Opinion 706 (February 2025), the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas addressed a similar scenario. In the opinion, the committee considered whether a lawyer may pay fees “based on a percentage of the revenues of the lawyer or the lawyer’s firm” to a nonlawyer-owned company that provides “a platform of support services” for lawyers and law firms.

After noting that Rule 5.04(a) does not include an exception for “charges for third-party support services for law firms,” the opinion explains that the “proposed fee is not based on the amount of services provided or the actual cost of those services, but in practical effect is a split of the fees earned by the law firm.” Based on Rule 5.04(a), the opinion concludes that “a lawyer that engages a nonlawyer-owned company to provide a platform of support services may not pay or promise to pay fees to the company based on a percentage of the revenues of the lawyer or the lawyer’s firm.” The correct response is D. For more Ethics Question of the Month columns, go to legalethicstexas.com/ethics-question-of-the-month.

Bluebook Citation

Help Wanted: Ethics Question of the Month - November 2025, Texas Center for Legal Ethics (2025), from https://legalethicstexas.com/ethics-question-of-the-month/ethics-question-of-the-month-november-2025/ (last visited Oct 30, 2025)

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