Legal rules ban ‘barratry’

Law firms, under certain circumstances, can pay for funeral services for members of clients’ families in both Texas and New Mexico.

In Texas, the law firm, after it is retained, can loan the client money to be paid from any settlement. In New Mexico, the funeral home files a “letter of protection,” essentially a lien with the law firm against the settlement the surviving family members receive.

When it comes to barratry, New Mexico State Bar rules say: “A lawyer shall not give anything of value or otherwise provide a benefit to a person for recommending the lawyer’s services, except that a lawyer may pay the reasonable cost of the advertising or the reasonable cost of preparing the communication which is permitted by this rule and may pay the usual charges for a not-forprofit lawyer referral service or other legal service organization.”

Under New Mexico criminal statutes one aspect of “barratry” is “any attorney-at-law seeking or obtaining employment in any suit, by giving to the person from whom the employment is sought anything of value or directly or indirectly paying the debts or liabilities of the person from whom such employment is sought or loaning or promising to give or otherwise grant anything of value to the person from whom such employment is sought before such employment in order to induce such employment.”

Whoever commits barratry in New Mexico is guilty of a misdemeanor.