Opinion No. 98-14

September 9, 1998

TOPIC: Listing of referral agreements by a judge on the Statement of Economic Interest.

DIGEST: A judge is required to include in his or her Statement of Economic Interest the names of all cases and the names of all lawyers to whom the judge referred cases with a fee splitting agreement prior to becoming a judge.

REFERENCES: Illinois Supreme Court Rule 68 and the Supreme Court Administrative Order dated April 1, 1986 and appended to this rule.

FACTS

Before being sworn in, a judge referred out a number of cases to several lawyers in accordance with an agreement for a percentage of any fee that would be earned in the future on those cases.

QUESTION

Must each of these cases and the lawyers to whom these cases have been referred be reported on the judge's Statement of Economic Interest?

OPINION

Rule 68 requires each judge to file an annual Statement of Economic Interest with the Supreme Court Clerk. The Court's Administrative Order of April 1, 1986, provides that the Report shall include:

1. ...Every source of noninvestment income in the form of a fee...

4. ...The name of any individual personally known by the judge to be licensed to practice law in Illinois who is a co-owner with the judge...of any of the economic interests...

6. ...cases in which the judge...are parties in interest...

The language of Rule 68 and the Administrative Order are broad. The Rule requires that the name of each case and the name of each lawyer to whom a referral was made with a fee splitting agreement to be included in the Report.