Registration with the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry requires that you provide information about your firm. To complete the registration process, be sure to have the following information on hand:

• Business name, year established and Federal Taxpayer ID

  The Federal Taxpayer ID is used as a means of identifying duplicate Registrations.

• Administrative and partner contact information

  Provide detailed contact information for your firm, including primary contact information. The contact information includes:

  • Firm address (street, city, state, zip)
  • Firm phone and fax numbers
  • Firm e-mail address
  • Administrative contact name, phone number and e-mail
  • Primary Partner contact name, phone number and e-mail

• Malpractice insurance information

  Per the terms of the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry Agreement, every firm must provide evidence that each attorney has malpractice insurance coverage of at least $100,000 for each claim and aggregate coverage of at least $300,000. You will be required to submit the following information on the application:

  • Name and address of the insurance carrier
  • Name of Insured (as it appears on the policy)
  • Policy number
  • Effective and expiration dates for the policy
  • Limits of liability (per claim and aggregate)

• Areas of law practiced

  Select each area of law in which your firm currently practices. You may then offer fees for fee structures in your areas of law. Your firm's area of law information will also be available to Corporate Customers you select in the Relationship Preferences section of your law firm profile.

  At this time, only certain areas of law are currently active in the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry. Accurately indicating the areas of law that your firm practices will ensure that, as each area of law is activated in the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry, you will have the opportunity to offer fees.

• List of representative clients
• Practice Counties

  There are two primary factors that affect your firm's ability to accept legal matters in the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry. One is the area of law, and the other is the selection of counties in which your firm is willing to offer services.

  Note: you should not list offices from more than one state. An additional Law Firm Registration is required for each state's office(s).

• Legal Customers with Multiple Offices:
  

  If you have multiple offices (within one state) you may choose to have them participate in the Attorney Registry in one of two ways...
  
  

  1. You can have all matters assigned to your firm through your main office. If you choose this option, be sure to indicate all of the counties and areas of law covered by ALL of the offices in your firm. The main office can then handle the delegation of matters to the other offices.
  2. One or more of the additional offices can participate in the program directly. They will each be assigned a User ID and Password. The registration process will ask you to complete a separate set of county listings for EACH such office. Matters will be assigned to the office covering the county in question. Note: if you conduct business this way, a given county can only be covered by ONE office.

• Interstate Legal Customers:
  

  For firms with offices in one state only, but which practice law in other states, CounselLink poses no special requirements. When registering for the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry registration, you will be allowed to indicate counties in any state as part of the county coverage for your office(s).

  NOTE: If your firm has offices in more than one state, we require that each state's office(s) register separately. This satisfies certain legal requirements and assists in the facilitation of the program.

An Attorney Registry application must be completed for each registered attorney. Our credentialing process helps to ensure that our Corporate Customers are represented by attorneys in good standing with the applicable State Bar Association. The following information is required:

• Name
• Position (e.g. partner, associate, etc.)
• Law School and date of graduation

  We verify that each attorney has received a Juris Doctor degree from the law school designated on the application.

  Some law schools will release information about their graduates only when an Attorney Release Form is signed by the graduate.  See item #3 for list of Law Schools with this requirement. If an attorney's law school is on this list, you will be presented with an on-line release form during the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry registration process. You will need to print and sign it, and return it via fax as soon as possible.

Schools Requiring An Attorney Release

American College of Law
Cal Northern
California Southern Law School
California Western School of Law
Columbia University, School of Law
Empire College, School of Law
Guild Law School, People’s College of Law
John Marshall Law School
Judge Advocate, General’s School (LL.M. degrees only)
Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Law School
Loyola University of Chicago, School of Law
Mississippi College, School of Law
Nashville School of Law
New York University, School of Law
Pacific Coast University School of Law
Peninsula University, College of Law
Roger Williams University, School of Law
Santa Clara University, School of Law
Southern Illinois University/Carbondale, School of Law
St. Thomas University, School of Law
Stetson University, College of Law
The John Marshall Law School
Thomas Jefferson, School of Law
Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
Union University, Albany Law School
University of Alabama, School of Law
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, School of Law
University of Dayton, School of Law
University of Detroit Mercy, School of Law
University of Kansas, School of Law
University of Montana, School of Law
University of San Diego, School of Law
University of Toledo, College of Law
University of Washington, School of Law
University of West Los Angeles
Western State (a.k.a. Thomas Jefferson)

• Year started active practice
• Any disciplinary action during the three years prior to application

  We verify that each attorney has not been subject to any State Bar disciplinary proceedings during the three years prior to application.

• Former names
• Licensing information

  We verify that each attorney applicant is currently in good standing with the State Bar for each state in which he/she is licensed

Before you can complete the registration process, we may require that you submit payment for the first year's registration fees for the attorneys you register. Shown below is the current Fee Schedule:

NOTE:
These fees pertain to the CounselLink™ Attorney Registry only, they are not necessary for law firms signing on to use the system with their existing clients.

In order to be eligible to accept matter assignments from Corporate Customers, you must first offer fees to the fee structures in the counties you designated on your registration form.

What are my contractual obligations upon offering fees?
By offering fees to a fee structure, your law firm will be obligated to accept cases from a Corporate Customer at your offered fee and in the county designated.

If the nature of a legal matter changes substantially after my firm accepts a matter, can the fees be adjusted?
In situations where the nature of a legal matter has substantially changed since the time your firm was retained, your firm and the Corporate Customer can agree to adjust your fee for that particular matter.

Are there any limits to the fees I offer for legal matters?
For each fee structure stage, Corporate Customers may set a Maximum Attorney Price (MAP) or Maximum Hourly Rate (MHR). This amount represents the maximum amount that can be offered by any firm for the stage.

Fees may be lowered or raised at any time, pursuant to any ethical standards in your state, but may never exceed the maximum price or rate.

How are the fees I offer made available to Corporate Customers?
When the Corporate Customer sets up a matter and initiates matter assignment, they have the ability to search for attorneys based on the fee structure and county location. The search will display attorneys and their corresponding offered fees based on that search criteria.

Are costs included in the fees I offer?
Costs are not included in the fees offered. Costs are defined in the Registration Fees section above and are discussed in the client protocols.