Legal Community Joins Gig Economy with App
A collection of Chicago lawyers is targeting to unveil a mobile application this summer that will allow attorneys to hire other lawyers to stand in for them during tedious status calls in court. The app, Run the Call, expands the list of people available to cover hearings by allowing licensed attorneys, including ones they have never met to represent them in their absence on-demand for a flat fee.
There is also the question of whether the app can constitute fee-splitting, since attorneys are not supposed to share fees with others outside their firm without an express written agreement from their client. "The money originates with your client," Chicago litigation attorney Trisha Rich said. "The fact of the matter is you're ultimately paying somebody else to show up on behalf of your client. Perhaps somebody could make the argument that technically it's not fee splitting. I am not convinced that that's not fee-splitting."