Referral Fees Policy

Purpose

Neo Legal Services Professional Corporation is a licensed paralegal firm. Some legal matters can only be handled by a lawyer. When that happens, we refer you to a lawyer who has the expertise and ability to handle your matter. This policy explains how referrals work and how referral fees are handled under the Law Society of Ontario's rules (Paralegal Rules of Conduct, rule 5.01, and By-Law 9).

What you pay

• The referral costs you nothing. We do not charge you for referring your matter.
• You pay only the lawyer's own fee, under the lawyer's own retainer agreement with you. The lawyer fees shown on our Lawyer Fees page are typical Ontario ranges; the lawyer quotes the actual fee.
• A referral fee never increases your fee. If the lawyer pays us a referral fee, it comes out of the lawyer's fee and is the lawyer's responsibility, not yours.

How much a referral fee can be

A referral fee may not exceed 15% of the first $50,000 of the legal fees paid for the matter plus 5% of the fees above $50,000, to a maximum of $25,000. For example, on $100,000 of legal fees the most is $10,000 ($7,500 + $2,500).

A referral fee is never paid up front. It is paid only after the lawyer has been paid by you for the legal services provided, and it is noted on the lawyer's account to you. You will be asked to acknowledge it at that time.

Your choices

• You have no obligation to accept a referral, and you are free to retain any other lawyer or paralegal of your choice.
• We usually recommend at least two lawyers. If that is not reasonably possible, we tell you why.
• We tell you why we recommended the lawyer and about any relationship between us and the lawyer.
• You may end your retainer with the lawyer at any time and for any reason.
• You can get a referral with no referral fee from the Law Society Referral Service at findlegalhelp.ca, or by calling 1-855-947-5255 (Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm) if you are in crisis.

The documents you receive

When a referral fee will be paid, before it can be paid:

1. You receive the Law Society's Requirements for Referral Fees: What Clients Need to Know, with a reasonable opportunity to read and consider it.
2. You, our firm and the lawyer sign the Law Society's standard Referral Agreement, which sets out the reasons for the referral, any relationship, the other lawyers recommended, your rights, and the amount of the referral fee or how it is calculated. Each of us keeps a fully signed copy.

We also give you our own short client acknowledgment confirming that we are not acting for you on the referred matter, that the referral is free, and what information we share with the lawyer (your name, contact details and the information about your matter you gave us).

When we will not take a referral fee

We do not make or accept a referral fee where the licensee has a conflict of interest and is not permitted to act, where the licensee is suspended, where a person is not a lawyer or paralegal licensed by the Law Society, or where legal services are provided through a civil society organization.

Records

We keep the signed Referral Agreement and a record of every referral fee received (the date, the method of payment, the amount, the licensee who paid it and the client it relates to) for the period By-Law 9 requires.

Questions

Call us at 888-519-2435 or contact us.