Percentage Bonuses for Paralegals
Adopted: January 15, 1993
Opinion holds that an attorney may not pay a percentage of fees to a paralegal as a bonus.
Editor's note: See Rule 5.4(a)(4) for the exception.
Inquiry:
A law firm employed an experienced certified legal assistant who worked exclusively in the area of real estate for many years. The legal assistant, under the supervision of the attorneys in the firm, participates in all phases of real estate practice: searching titles, preparing deeds, closing papers, and foreclosure documents.
The firm pays the legal assistant a regular salary which is supplemented by periodic bonuses. The bonuses are discretionary with the firm's partners, but are generally related to the profitability of the firm's real estate practice.
The firm wishes to implement a system of performance-based incentives for its employees. It proposes to supplement the legal assistant's salary with monthly bonuses calculated on the firm's net income from the real estate closings which the legal assistant has worked on. Each bonus would be equal to a small percentage (approximately five percent) of the compensation which the firm received for real estate services in which the assistant has participated during that month.
May the firm pay such bonuses without violating Rule 3.2, or any other provision, of the Rules of Professional Conduct if:
a) The bonuses, and the means for calculating them, are made an express part of the legal assistant's employment contract; or
b) The bonuses remain discretionary and the same method of calculating them is used for purposes of guidance only?
Opinion:
While bonuses for productivity are not prohibited, the firm may not pay the bonuses to its paralegal under either alternative set out in the inquiry without violating Rule 3.2 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. That rule prohibits attorneys from sharing legal fees with nonlawyers, except in certain circumstances not relevant to this inquiry. It is apparent from the inquiry that the paralegal's bonuses would be calculated based upon a percentage of the income the firm derives from legal matters on which the paralegal has worked. This plan in effect pays the paralegal a percentage of the legal fees received by the firm and therefore falls squarely within the prohibition of Rule 3.2. The proposed method of calculation violates Rule 3.2 regardless of whether the bonuses are made part of the paralegal's employment contract or whether they are paid at irregular intervals at the discretion of the partners in the firm. See CPR 289.