Panel pushes for tougher referral service rules.

Private referral services that do both medical and legal referrals may be causing conflicts of interest for attorneys belonging to those services and resulting in the unlicensed practice of law in the way some callers are signed up with law firms.

Those are among the findings in the final report of the Special Committee on Lawyer Referral Services. The report, which includes a recommendation that lawyers using referral services be required to report that status to the Bar, was presented to the Bar Board of Governors at its July 27 meeting in Miami Beach.

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The special committee also proposed tightening conflict of interest rules, which could prevent lawyers from joining referral services that also refer callers to other professional services, such as medical treatment or loan modifications. Florida has seen a plethora of referral services spring up in recent years, most offering medical and legal referrals to callers.

Bar President Gwynne Young said she expects the committee's suggestions to be acted on.

"We will refer it to the appropriate places to be implemented," she told the board after the special committee gave its report.

Board member Carl Schwait, chair of the Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics, said before the meeting he hopes his committee will have a chance to work on the special committee's proposals. The BRCPE two years ago did a complete overhaul of the Bar's advertising rules--except for those affecting lawyer referral services.

Now that the special committee has weighed in, Schwait said he would like to finish the work. He also told the board, during his report on BRCPE activities, that the Supreme Court will have oral arguments on the advertising rules amendments on September 7.

The report was criticized by one company that runs a medical and legal referral service, 1-800-411-PAIN. Tim Chinaris, an attorney who represents the company, said current Bar rules cover any issues not addressed by the committee.

"The committee's report identifies 'problems' allegedly related to the operation of lawyer referral services and calls for stringent new rules, despite the fact that every one of the 'problems' is already the subject of one or more existing Bar rules," Chinaris said in a statement to the Bar News. "We trust that the Board of Governors will respond to the report in a measured way that protects both the public and the constitutional rights of lawyer referral services and the attorneys who...