PARTICIPATION FEES
PAID TO ATTORNEY REFERRAL PARTNERS
PARTICIPATION FEES / REFERRAL FEES
AS A PERCENTAGE OF 406B FEES:
We pay “participation fees” or “referral fees” to our attorney referral partners (some jurisdictions refer to fee sharing as “participation fees” and others as “referral fees”; however for purposes of this information we will collectively refer to fee sharing as “referral fees”).
“Referral fees” are paid based on the back-end 406B fees.
Our attorney referral partners will receive a fee in the amount of 20% of collected 406B fees that are paid over the total EAJA award.
The fee structure for federal cases you refer to us will be as follows:
- We work on a contingency fee basis. Neither you, nor your client, have to pay us any legal fees.
- We are paid full EAJA fees.
- You keep the case on remand, and you keep all 406A fees for your work at the administrative level.
- If you win the case, we then may have an opportunity to petition the Court for supplemental 406B fees. If we are awarded 406B fees, you will receive a 20% referral fee based on all 406B fees collected, which exceed the original EAJA award. (As an example, if we receive an EAJA award of $5,000, and a 406B award of $15,000, then we are expected to be paid $10,000 over the original EAJA award.* In this example, the 20% referral fee would be $2,000.).
Referral fees are subject to change at the discretion of The Federal Appeals Firm.
In order to be paid referral fees, please send us a W-9 Form, which we will need for our accounting purposes. Payment will be made on Form-1099. For a copy of a W-9 Form, click here.
We also have an additional form for you to sign in order to comply with jurisdictional ethical requirements, which we will provide to you. Lastly, each client signs a form acknowledging and approving the payment of referral fees in order to ensure compliance with ethical rules and regulations.
REFERRAL FEES
NOT OFFERED FROM EAJA FEES:
We do not offer “participation fees” or “referral fees” from the EAJA fees. This is for a few reasons, including: federal appeals are not generally boiler plate, cannot be drafted by a paralegal, can take 40+ hours to perfect, and are, of course, difficult to win with an uncertain outcome despite the large time commitment. Additionally, we have numerous attorneys that work with us, and a staff of paralegals, that are also compensated out of the EAJA fee recovery. In order to ensure quality work product, and maintain a sustainable business model, we cannot pay referral fees out of the EAJA fees.
REFERRAL FEES NOT OFFERED
TO NON-ATTORNEY REPRESENTATIVES
Referral fees will only be paid in accordance with the rules of ethics. The rules of ethics prohibit the sharing of legal fees with non-attorneys.
Because of ethical rules that prohibit the splitting of attorneys’ fees with non-attorneys, we are prohibited from sharing legal fees with non-attorney representatives. We do not believe this rule is fair since attorney and non-attorney reps are all in the same “industry” and are authorized to handle the same types of administrative cases. Unfortunately, however, the law prohibits fee sharing with non-attorney representatives. There is no exception to the rule. For this reason, we can only share fees with our attorney and law firm referral partners. We apologize to our non-attorney referral partners since you are equally important to us. But, we must comply with the ethical rules that govern attorney conduct.
THANK YOU FOR THINKING OF US!
Thank you for working with us. We appreciate that you keep us in mind for federal level appeals!
*By law, the original EAJA award must be refunded to the client upon receipt of a 406B fee payment.