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Some lawyers however do not act for many satisfied clients. Instead, they buy work in. The way this works is very simple: they might agree, with a local estate agent for example, that for every client that the estate agent 'recommends' to go to that lawyer, the lawyer will pay that estate agent a fee. The same arrangement is often entered into with other possible sources of referrals of work too, not just estate agents.
I believe that these arrangements are immoral. This is because they involve telling lies, ie telling clients that they recommend such-and-such a lawyer because they are the best, when in reality the real reason for the 'recommendation' is that the lawyer is just paying them.
Legally, you should be told about any such arrangement without having to ask. But not everyone complies with the law as they should, and sometimes when they do it is in an obscure way or tucked away on the small print somewhere. Phrases like 'referral fee', 'introduction fee' and such like are used in an attempt to disguise the real nature of what is going on.
So remember this: whenever somebody you do not know well recommends a lawyer to you, ALWAYS ask whether they are being paid to do so. And then, because not everybody is as honest as they should be, if you go to the lawyer concerned ALWAYS double check: ask them too whether they have paid to have you recommended to them. If you do not get two loud and clear 'NOs' (and preferably in writing) then take your custom elsewhere. Lawyers who have to pay to get work only do so because they are no good. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
NB Alternatively, you could just save yourself the trouble by coming to Wilsons. Wilsons never pay for recommendations or referrals.
