Does a referral fee between Georgia lawyers cost me anything extra?

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Splitting a fee between two attorneys does not raise the total a client pays in Georgia. When one lawyer refers a case to another and they share the resulting fee, that division comes out of the single contingency percentage already agreed to, not from an added charge layered on top.

How fee sharing works under Georgia rules

Georgia lawyers operate under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, which govern when attorneys in different firms may divide a fee. The core principle is that the arrangement must be disclosed to the client and the client must not pay more than they would have paid a single firm. In practice, the referring lawyer and the handling lawyer agree privately on how to split the percentage. The injured person still signs one contingency agreement, and the agreed rate is the ceiling.

Two points matter for keeping the cost neutral:

  • The total fee remains whatever the client agreed to in the contingency contract.
  • The split between the lawyers is an internal allocation that does not change the client’s bottom line.

Georgia’s professional rules also call for the client to be informed of the arrangement, which gives the client a chance to ask questions before agreeing.

Where confusion sometimes arises

Clients occasionally worry that “two lawyers” means “two fees.” That is not how a properly structured referral works. The math is the same as a one-firm case: the fee is calculated once on the recovery, then the lawyers divide their share behind the scenes. Litigation costs, such as filing fees, expert charges, and records expenses, are a separate category from the attorney fee and are handled the same way they would be in any contingency case, typically reimbursed from the recovery as the agreement specifies.

If a client ever sees a fee that appears to exceed the agreed percentage because of a referral, that is a signal to ask for a written explanation and to review the original contract.

The bottom line

A referral arrangement between Georgia attorneys is designed to be cost-neutral to the client. The fee is set by the contingency agreement and shared internally, so a referral generally adds nothing to what the injured person owes. Confirming the percentage in the written contract and asking for disclosure of any fee split is the surest way to verify that nothing extra is being charged.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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