Legal Research

The ABA Journal reports that the Ethics Committee of the North Carolina State Bar met this week to consider whether NC attorneys may offer Groupon discounts under the state's ethics rules.  Because Groupon receives a portion of any profits that the advertising attorney receives from the discount offer, the committee is considering whether this arrangement constitutes "impermissible fee-sharing with a non-lawyer."  The draft opinion by the NC State Bar committee concludes that the arrangement "appears to constitute revenue sharing with a nonlawyer."