01
The firm's lawyers alone decide which matters to accept, what advice to give, what fees to charge clients, and whether and when to settle. We do not direct or influence those decisions.
Home / How we work
Our operating commitments
The lawyers decide. We do the business work.
Consortium Legal provides non-legal business services. It is not a law firm, and everything about how we work is built to keep that line clear.
Our commitments
In every engagement:
02
The firm owns its client relationships, files and data.
03
Intake is inbound only. We respond only to people who contact the firm themselves, and we contact someone again only if that person has asked us to. We do not solicit anyone, and we do not pay anyone for referrals.
04
Each client firm has its own advertising, its own phone numbers and its own intake scripts. We never send a person who contacts one firm to a different firm, and we keep each firm's information separate from every other firm's.
05
Every advertisement runs in the firm's name, carries the firm's contact information, and is approved by the firm's responsible attorney before it runs. Advertising is the only way we help a firm reach people.
06
We never hold, handle, receive or have signing authority over client funds, settlement payments or attorney trust accounts.
07
Our staff are bound by confidentiality and work under the supervision of the firm's lawyers.
08
Every engagement is under a written agreement signed by the firm.
Who does what
The separation, line by line.
Area
The law firm
Consortium Legal
Accepting or declining a matter
The firm's lawyers alone
No role
Legal advice to clients
The firm's lawyers alone
No role; our staff give no legal advice
Fees the firm charges clients
The firm's lawyers alone
No role
Whether and when to settle
The firm's lawyers alone
No role
Client relationships, files & data
Owned by the firm
Supports, as the firm directs
Client funds & trust accounts
The firm, exclusively
Never holds, handles, receives or signs for client funds or settlement payments
Advertising
Approved by the firm's responsible attorney
Plans, produces and manages it, in the firm's name
Intake
Decides on every matter
Answers inbound inquiries; gathers facts
Administration, staffing & software
Supervises the work
Provides it, under a written agreement
State rules
Every engagement follows the firm's rules.
Every engagement follows the rules that apply to the firm in each state where it practices.
Rules on law-firm ownership, fee sharing and advertising differ by state. Each client firm is responsible for complying with the rules of the states where it practices, and its lawyers make all legal and professional decisions.
Whether a particular structure is permitted depends on the rules of each state involved. Firms should get advice from their own ethics counsel.
Next step
Talk it through with us.
Bring your questions about how an engagement works. Your firm's own counsel is welcome on the call.