For Referring Attorneys
Attorney Referrals and Co-Counsel
Wave Law Firm, APC accepts referrals and co-counsel engagements in California personal injury and wrongful death matters, including from lawyers outside the state who need California counsel. The firm honors fee divisions with referring lawyers and documents them in writing at the outset, in the form California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5.1 requires. Hand the matter off entirely or stay involved through resolution. Either works here.
Cases the Firm Accepts on Referral
The firm handles auto, motorcycle, trucking, bicycle, pedestrian, and rideshare collisions, premises liability, product liability, medical malpractice, school injuries and abuse, and wrongful death. It also takes matters against public entities, which some firms decline because of the claim presentation requirements and immunities involved. Each area is described on the practice areas page.
On fit: catastrophic injury, trucking, product defect, and government liability matters are where the firm adds the most value. Those carry heavier expert costs, faster spoliation risk, and procedural traps that reward early work. If a matter is one many capable firms could handle just as well, you will be told so rather than have the referral taken anyway.
Cases Outside California
If your client was hurt in California and you are not admitted here, the firm can serve as California counsel while you keep whatever role your own rules allow, appearing in state and federal courts throughout California.
Rule 1.5.1
How Fee Divisions Work Under California Rule 1.5.1
California is one of the states that permits a pure referral fee, meaning a referring lawyer can share in the fee without doing proportionate work on the case. Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5.1, effective November 1, 2018, sets three requirements for lawyers who are not in the same firm to divide a fee.
1. The lawyers enter into a written agreement to divide the fee. A handshake does not satisfy the rule. The agreement between the firms must be in writing.
2. The client consents in writing, after a full written disclosure. The disclosure must state that a division of fees will be made, identify the lawyers or firms that are parties to it, and state the terms. The client’s written consent must come either when the lawyers enter into the fee division agreement or as soon after that as is reasonably practicable. Waiting until the fee is paid is too late under the current rule.
3. The total fee is not increased because of the division. The client pays the same contingency percentage that would apply with no referral. The split comes out of the firm’s fee, not the client’s pocket.
The rule’s comment confirms the two writing requirements can be met in one document or several. In practice the fee division agreement and the client disclosure and consent go out together with the retainer, so nothing is left to reconstruct later. The rule does not apply to a division ordered by a court.
No specific split is published here, because the division is negotiated matter by matter. It depends on the posture of the case, the work you have already done, and whether you stay on as co-counsel. Raise it on the first call and it gets papered before the file opens.
What You Can Expect After You Send a Case
A prompt answer, including a no. You will hear back on whether the firm is taking the case, usually the same or next business day. If the answer is no, you get a reason and, where possible, a suggestion of where else it might fit.
Status updates without chasing them. Referring lawyers are kept informed at retention, filing, significant discovery developments, mediation, trial setting, and resolution, and can ask for more. The litigation process page lays out the sequence a case follows.
Your other clients stay your clients. The firm does not solicit your clients or take on unrelated matters for them because you sent one case over. A referred client who asks about anything outside this firm’s practice is sent back to you.
Co-Counsel Instead of a Handoff
There are good reasons to stay on a case: a long client relationship, knowledge of the facts, or an interest in the injury side. Co-counsel arrangements are welcome. Scope is agreed at the start and written down, covering who appears at what, who takes which depositions, how costs are advanced, who handles settlement authority conversations with the client, and how the fee is divided. Involvement can range from reviewing filings to actively working the file.
Flag Any Approaching Deadline on the First Call
If a limitations period or claim deadline is close, say so first. Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Tolling, delayed discovery, and minority can change that, and none of it should be assumed without checking the facts.
Public entity cases run on a much shorter clock. Government Code section 911.2 requires a claim for death or for injury to person or to personal property or growing crops to be presented not later than six months after the cause of action accrues, and one year for other causes of action. A case against a city, county, transit agency, school district, or the state can be lost before the client ever thinks to call a lawyer, so send those over immediately rather than after a workup.
How to Refer a Case
Call (844) GET-WAVE. A conversation attorney to attorney beats a form, and you can reach Paymon Khatibi directly. You may also use the contact page.
What Helps on First Contact
- A short narrative of how it happened and who you think is responsible
- The date of loss and the county where it occurred
- The injuries and where the client has treated so far
- Any insurance information you have, including the client’s own coverage
- Any deadline that is approaching, including a government claim deadline
- Whether you want to refer out or stay on as co-counsel
If you have less than that, call anyway. A date of loss and a phone number is enough.
Who Will Be Handling Your Referral
Paymon A. Khatibi is the founding attorney. State Bar of California No. 282651, admitted June 2012, active with no record of discipline. Loyola Law School, Juris Doctor. UC Irvine, B.A. in Criminology, Law and Society. Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2019 through 2022.
He has participated in numerous civil trials involving catastrophic injuries, and helped obtain a seven figure personal injury verdict at jury trial in 2019 that was recognized among the Top 50 Verdicts in California.* He has also obtained seven figure confidential settlements in a wrongful death matter and a products liability matter.* See the results page and the about page.
He serves on the Board of Governors of Consumer Attorneys of California and its Legislative, Education, and Diversity Committees, and on the Public Affairs and Education Committees of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. He belongs to the American Association for Justice, the American Bar Association, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and co-founded the Downtown Los Angeles Bar Association, where he is past president.
Questions From Referring Counsel
Common Questions
Do I have to do work on the case to share in the fee?
No. California permits a pure referral fee, so the referring lawyer need not perform proportionate work or assume joint responsibility, unlike the rule in most states. The three requirements of Rule 1.5.1 still apply.
Who advances the costs?
On a straight referral, this firm advances the costs and carries the case. On a co-counsel matter, cost sharing is whatever the two firms agree to, written into the agreement at the start rather than sorted out at resolution.
What if I already signed the client and did some work?
Common, and not a problem. Send what you have, including carrier correspondence, and the substitution and fee division paperwork are handled together. Work you already did factors into the division.
Can I refer a case where I am not sure there is liability?
Yes. Liability questions are often worth investigating in trucking, premises, and product cases, where the answer turns on records neither of us has yet. You will get a straight assessment.
Send the Case Over
Los Angeles: 355 S. Grand Ave, Suite 2450, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Santa Cruz: 710 River St., Suite 9, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.
*Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. This page is general information for attorneys and is not legal advice. Any division of fees is subject to the California Rules of Professional Conduct and requires the client’s written consent.