A joint opinion from New Jersey Supreme Court committees that found Avvo's payment structure amounted to impermissible fee sharing was the only appropriate conclusion and should be affirmed, the association said in a recently filed friend-of-the-court brief.
The matter involves an opinion issued this summer from the Court’s Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, Attorney Advertising, Unauthorized Practice of Law committees found, in particular, that Avvo’s payment structure amounted to fee sharing and as such, New Jersey attorneys could not participate in those plans. The opinion, which was issued in response to an inquiry by the association about the role the companies seek to play in the legal market, raised other issues about companies such as RocketLawyer and Legal Zoom.
A Washington D.C.-based Consumers for a Responsible Legal System, or Responsive Law, is now seeking a reversal of that opinion, arguing that it restricts access to legal services, is anti-competitive and fails to recognize Avvo’s fee-sharing scheme as a permissible exception.
Through its brief, the NJSBA is continuing the role it has played on a national level to advocate that those offering legal services should be attorneys and lawyers who are subject to the ethics rules and other regulations meant to protect the public.