A State Legal Referral Service — Does Oklahoma Need It?
By Dietmar K. Caudle, State Legal Referral Service Task Force Chairperson

Last March, then-OBA President Bill Grimm proposed the creation of the new State Legal Referral Service Task Force, which the Board of Governors approved. The task force’s mission was to study the feasibility of offering a statewide legal referral service in Oklahoma, not in competition with the current service provided by the Tulsa County Bar Association. The vision of the task force was to offer excellence in legal services in an accessible, valued justice system. The task force’s study was to include factual data and findings to gauge the public demand and need for a state lawyer referral system. Included in the study were technology requirements for a phone system, data storage and processing.

The universal issue for the OBA and the general public is whether there is a legitimate need for a referral service. To help answer this question, one must consider some critical data. At the present time, approximately one out of every four phone calls directed to the Oklahoma Bar Center is someone attempting to find an Oklahoma lawyer. These calls are usually redirected to the “Oklahoma Find A Lawyer” Web site or to www.okbar.org, which has the “Find a Lawyer” link. At times, callers are referred to the local bar president of the county in which the lawyer is needed. There are no minimum requirements for the attorney referral other than licensure. Professional liability insurance is encouraged but not required. Experience and specialization is encouraged but not required. The potential client has no recourse beyond the immediate lawyer other than inquiry to OBA general counsel.

For the client in a strictly rural area of the state, the number and choice of attorneys is severely limited. An in-person initial consultation with an attorney is usually impossible or impractical. To complicate matters, the brutal truth is that not all prospective clients are computer literate or even have access to a computer. Daily, legal aid offices across the state reject potential clients seeking attorneys because they have too much income or assets to qualify or because they seek advice in an area of the law that Legal Aid does not cover. These potential clients are often referred to the phone book yellow pages or to the local county bar president of a non-funded bar association. In most cases the referral cannot be followed up to ensure the client’s satisfaction. Legal Aid’s Web site at www.probono.net/ok allows networking through a roster and list services. Consideration of a statewide legal referral service would provide an additional resource, particularly for clients with a fee-generating case.

The lofty goal of the State Legal Referral Service Task Force is to present the Board of Governors with a comprehensive study by this May. The top issues for the task force to consider will be the most obvious: (a) does the state need a lawyer referral service in order to provide the public with referrals to competent legal counsel? (b) will Oklahoma attorneys participate in a statewide legal referral service, requiring the payment of a membership fee and potentially a percentage fee over a certain amount? and (c) can such a system become ultimately self-sustaining, considering staffing, technical data, automated phone systems and advertising expenditures? The scope of such a project may be compared to our geographical neighbor to the north. Kansas has a statewide lawyer referral program that has been successful and self-sustaining for a number of years. In contrast, Arizona, with similar rural and metropolitan areas such as ours, has had a legal referral service task force in place for a number of years without a final resolution. It is important to note that Oklahoma had a statewide lawyer referral system from approximately 1981 to 1985, when it ultimately failed.

It is the State Legal Referral Service Task Force’s mission to draft a concise, documented plan for consideration that envisions a clear path for the public to locate and contact competent attorneys. Your continued input as bar association members is valued and appreciated.

Share your thoughts on the state legal referral service with task force Chairperson Caudle. Contact him at d.caudle@sbcglobal.net or (580) 248-0202.