Vote on matching services rules set.

New proposed rules addressing for-profit companies that link lawyers with consumers needing legal work will prevent fee splitting between those companies and lawyers and protect the public from any deceptive, misleading, or false advertising by those companies.

The Board of Governors at its May 20 meeting received an updated report from board member Carl Schwait, chair of the Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics, on proposed amendments to replace current rules on private lawyer referral services and legal directories.

The BRCPE has been working with the board's Technology Committee, chaired by board member John Stewart, on the issue since last year when the Supreme Court rejected Bar rule amendments on private referral services and lawyers' relationship with them.

The board is scheduled to vote on the amendments at its July 29 meeting and the amendments must be filed with the Supreme Court by August 15. The revised rules can be found on the Bar's website at: www. floridabar.org/proposedlrsamend.

Schwait reminded the board that the latest revisions are far-reaching and virtually unprecedented. Instead of addressing private referral services, legal directories, and legal services companies that match lawyers with consumers for everything from simple document review to complex problems, the proposed rules eliminate those distinctions.

Now any private entities that connect consumers looking for legal services with lawyers are called "qualifying providers" regardless of whether they are a "traditional" referral service like 411-PAIN or ASK-GARY or a technology-based provider such as Avvo or LegalZoom.

"We have done away with the words 'lawyer referral service.' We've done away with the word [legal] 'directory'.... Anybody--and I mean person or entity--that matches a lawyer to a person who needs a lawyer becomes what's called a qualifying provider. It gives people choices, and that's important, because in protecting the public we have to give the public choices while still ensuring that they are not misled or lied to, and that everything is on the up and up," Schwait said.

There are controls on what qualifying providers can do, and lawyers can participate or accept clients only from the entities that follow the proposed Bar rules, he said.

"One thing we do not allow is fee-splitting, and that's really important to the members; they don't want fee splitting," Schwait said. "A fee paid to a qualifying provider that is a percentage of the...