Attorney Referrals

Over the past 70+ years, most of our great cases have come by referral from other lawyers, both in Georgia and across North America.

Georgia attorneys who are preeminent in bankruptcy, real estate, securities, probate or corporate law readily acknowledge when they need to refer a client to a lawyer who specializes in tort law. Similarly, we refer matters outside the scope of practice to experts in those specialties.

Often Georgia attorneys refer to us cases that do not fit their practices. Attorneys in large corporate law firms outsource to us the handling of plaintiffs’ personal injury cases that their firms do not handle.

Attorneys in other states and in Canada frequently refer to us their clients who have catastrophic injury or wrongful death cases in Georgia.

Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5(e) recognizes that clients are best served when lawyers can bring in other attorneys with needed areas of expertise, and still share in the responsibility and the fees. It provides:

(e) A division of a fee between lawyers who are not in the same firm may be made only if:

1. the division is in proportion to the services performed by each lawyer or, by written agreement with the client, each lawyer assumes joint responsibility for the representation;
2. the client is advised of the share that each lawyer is to receive and does not object to the participation of all the lawyers involved; and
3. the total fee is reasonable.

Fully complying with this rule and documenting the client’s consent to an appropriate allocation of fees and responsibility between counsel, we generously share fees with referring attorneys.

We work closely with referring lawyers, who may have as much or as little involvement as they wish. A lawyer who practices in another state or another area of law may net a greater fee than if they had done all the work themselves.

But the main thing is that a referring lawyer can know that the client is in good hands.

Professional reputation is a key to your comfort level in entrusting your client to another lawyer. You may tell your clients about Ken Shigley is the only Georgia lawyer who combines these credentials:

• President, State Bar of Georgia (2011-12)
• Chair, American Association for Justice Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway and Premises Liability Section (2015-16)
• Included in “short list” of nominees submitted to the Governor for appointment to the Georgia Court of Appeals by the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission (2012).
• Lead author, Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice(Thomson Reuters West, 2010-15)
• One of only 18 Georgia lawyers who have earned double board certification in Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Advocacy with the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification.
• “AV Preeminent” Martindale rating (1988-present)
• “Super Lawyer” (Atlanta Magazine); “Legal Elite” (Georgia Trend); “Who’s Who in Law” (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• Chair, Board of Trustees, Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia (2012-13)
• Gubernatorial appointee to Criminal Justice Reform Council (2012-13)
• Trustee, Institute for Continuing Judicial Education in Georgia (2013-14)
• Georgia Delegate, American Bar Association House of Delegates (2013)
• Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism (2012-13)
• Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution (2012-13)
• Chair, Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute (2005)
• Chair, Georgia Insurance Law Institute (1994)

To discuss a possible case referral, call Ken Shigley at 404-253-7862 (Atlanta)