Can a lawyer let clients pay legal fees through a credit card plan?
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This page answers the general question as of 1973. Ezel answers yours: whether it's allowed on your facts, under the current rules of professional conduct in your state, with citations.
Plain-English summary
Informal Opinion 6/73 responded to several inquiries about the ethical propriety of using credit card plans to finance clients' legal services, including a detailed study by a local bar association. The committee considered the then-recent ABA ethics opinions on financing legal fees (Formal Opinion 320 and Informal Opinions 1120 and 1176), along with questions about whether plans should be sponsored through a local or state bar association, whether accounts should be transferred with or without recourse, and whether lawyers could display a placard announcing participation.
The committee concluded that the matter of financing fees through a credit card or similar plan was a mixed issue of ethics and governing-board policy, and that it would be impossible to recommend or endorse a specific type of plan without examining the specific details of the proposal. It stated that, presumably, a specific plan could be formulated to avert the problems identified in the cited ABA opinions, and that the concept of credit card plans does not appear to contravene any specific canon or disciplinary rule.
Because the committee recognized that the operation and use of such plans raises potentially serious ethics problems, because no specific plan was before it, and because of the need for a broad base of participation supported by a policy endorsement from the sponsoring county or state bar association, the committee declined to make a final determination on the inquiries at that time.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1973, before Wisconsin's July 1, 2007 adoption of the revised Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys (the state's Ethics 2000 update), and it predates the now-routine acceptance of credit cards for legal fees. The current counterpart governing fees is SCR 20:1.5 / Model Rule 1.5 (fees). Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance. Verify against current rules before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or requirement mentioned here.
Common questions
Q: Did the committee say lawyers may accept credit cards for fees?
A: It said the concept does not appear to contravene any specific canon or disciplinary rule, but it declined to make a final determination without seeing a specific plan.
Q: Why didn't the committee approve a credit card plan outright?
A: Because no specific plan was before it and the question mixed ethics with governing-board policy; it wanted to examine a plan's details and have a sponsoring bar association's endorsement.
Background and rules framework
The opinion treated credit-card fee financing as a mixed ethics and policy question, drawing on ABA Formal Opinion 320 and Informal Opinions 1120 and 1176. The current counterpart for fee arrangements is SCR 20:1.5 / Model Rule 1.5.
Citations and references
Rules of Professional Conduct:
- Model Rule 1.5 / SCR 20:1.5 (fees)
Other opinions cited:
- ABA Formal Opinion 320; ABA Informal Opinions 1120 and 1176: financing of legal fees
See also
- WI Ethics Op. E-75-1: Credit Cards and Interest on Delinquent Accounts
- WI Ethics Op. E-56-1: No Feigned Contest to Charge the Maximum Compensation Fee
Source
- Landing page: https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/ethics/pages/formal-opinions.aspx
- Original PDF: https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/ethics/Ethics%20Opinions/I-6-73.pdf
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