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Opinion Summary
Opinion rules that a lawyer may agree to be on a list of attorneys approved to handle all of a lender's title work.

Inquiry:

Out-of-state Lender wishes to make home mortgage loans available to North Carolina borrowers. Lender wishes to require borrowers to use one of three "approved" North Carolina attorneys to do all the title work on closings on Lender's loans. May a North Carolina attorney agree to be one of these three approved attorneys?

Opinion:

An attorney may ethically request lenders and title insurance companies to place him on an approved attorney list. See CPR 104. The attorney may not, however, give any special remuneration to the Lender in return for placing his name on the list. No opinion is expressed as to the legality of the limitation of the number of attorneys on the list.