Lawyer Referral Service
Introduction
The Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) is an exciting new public service offered by the Berkshire County Bar Association (BCBA). The LRS is an automated system used to refer clients seeking legal services to BCBA members who are identified as being in their geographic and subject matter areas of practice.
Registration and use of the LRS is straightforward and user-friendly. After a small initial registration effort, future referrals should happen on a rotating basis. This will occur virtually to help our members (and public) deal with the “new normal” we are all facing. We will use a well-known software platform that is used by many other bar associations for the same purpose. Only BCBA members will be eligible to register and receive referrals.
We expect the Lawyer Referral Service will serve as a fertile source of new referrals while enhancing public access to the BCBA lawyers and the legal system in a fair, transparent, modern and efficient manner. The fees generated for BCBA through the Lawyer Referral Service will support the overall budget of the BCBA and may help defer the cost of BCBA programs and events going forward.
Details
The annual fee to join the referral panel is $100.00, which is in addition to your annual BCBA membership dues. The annual renewal term commences May 1st of each year, coinciding with our fiscal year. For this initial year, we hope to formally launch the program on December 1, 2020. Thus, the annual fee will be prorated to $50.00 for the period of December 1, 2020 to May 1, 2021. The next annual renewal fee of $100.00 will be due on May 1, 2021. In addition to the annual fee, the referral fee will be 15% of any collected net fee, as noted in the Standards & Rules, Section V. 4.1 “Fees Associated with Membership. All reporting and payments can be done online via the software platform.
Once you become a panel member, if you have no changes to your current information on file, you can renew without the hassle of filling out new paperwork, by making your annual fee payment to the BCBA. Your payment will serve as an agreement to abide by the Standards & Rules of the BCBA’s LRS.