How is the fee divided when two law firms work on my Georgia injury case?

· 3 min read

When two firms that are not part of the same practice work on one injury case, often through a referral or a co-counsel arrangement, they split a single attorney fee rather than each charging a separate one. Georgia’s professional-conduct rules set conditions on how lawyers from different firms may divide that fee, and those conditions protect the client.

One fee, divided between the firms

A division of fees is a single billing to the client shared by two or more lawyers who are not in the same firm. The key point for the client is that the total attorney fee is not supposed to increase simply because two firms are involved; the firms divide the fee, they do not each impose a full one. So a referral from one lawyer to another does not, by itself, make the case more expensive for the client.

What Georgia requires for the split

Rule 1.5(e) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct addresses fee divisions between lawyers in different firms and permits them only if three conditions are met:

  • The split is in proportion to the work each lawyer performs, or, by written agreement with the client, each lawyer assumes joint responsibility for the case.
  • The client is advised of the share each lawyer is to receive and does not object to the participation of all the lawyers involved.
  • The total fee is reasonable, measured by the same standard that applies to any fee.

The aim is transparency: the client should know that two firms are sharing the fee and how, rather than discovering it at disbursement. Because the overall fee still has to satisfy the reasonableness requirement, the split cannot be used to inflate what the client pays. A written agreement with the client is specifically required when the division rests on joint responsibility rather than on each lawyer’s proportional share of the work.

How it looks at settlement

When the case resolves, the agreed attorney fee comes out of the recovery once, and the two firms allocate it between themselves according to their arrangement. The client’s closing statement should reflect a single attorney fee, not two, alongside the case expenses and any medical liens. A client unsure how the fee is shared can ask for the division to be stated plainly, since the rule contemplates that the client be advised of each lawyer’s share before agreeing to proceed.

The bottom line

When two firms outside the same practice handle a Georgia injury case, they share one attorney fee under Rule 1.5(e), subject to the division tracking each lawyer’s work or resting on a written joint-responsibility agreement, the client being advised of each share without objecting, and the total fee being reasonable. The client should pay one combined fee, not two, so a referral or co-counsel setup should not raise the overall cost of the case.

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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