Bar ethics panel set to deal with third-party claims.

After a quiet year for formal ethical advisory opinions, the Professional Ethics Committee is set to consider six opinions at its January 17 gathering in Miami, during the Bar's Midyear Meeting.

The topics will range from what lawyers should do when holding client property that is subject to third-party claims to lawyers requiring binding arbitration for disagreements in their client contracts to getting referral fees from nonlawyers.

Four of the opinions have been drafted by subcommittees or bar staff and are before the PEC for initial review. Two have been adopted as proposed opinions and the committee is seeking input from Bar members.

The text of all the opinions can be found on the Bar's Web site, FLABAR.org. Click on the Ethics Opinion link on the home page, and then click on the link to Proposed Advisory Opinions.

On the client property issues, PAO 02-4 the draft notes most cases arise from personal injury settlements where the client has signed a letter of protection or otherwise promised to pay for medical care, although other types of disputes also arise.

The draft says that a lawyer must have actual knowledge of a third-party claim for that claim to be honored, and the claim must be valid, such as a perfected lien or a court judgment. A mere expectation by a third party to be paid is insufficient. The lawyer must protect such valid claims from interference by the client. But if there is a dispute about whether the money is owed, and the dispute cannot be re**** *** between the client and third party, the attorney must disburse and account for all funds or property not in dispute and consider interpleading the disputed monies or property into the registry of the court for judicial resolution. The attorney may not on his or her own arbitrarily decide the outcome of the dispute.

The draft tracks ethics opinions from several other states.

The referral fee issue came from a inquiry from a lawyer who said a stockbroker wanted to pay a referral fee for clients sent to the broker for financial advice. The attorney would also have an option of taking an exam to become an investment broker and then participating in fees from the client based on work done on the investment account.

The draft opinion, PAO 02-8, said only rarely could attorneys accept referral fees and then only in cases where the advice is completely unrelated to the legal services provided to the client.

"Whenever an attorney is entrusted by a client to provide the client...