LAWYERS Lawyer referral service targeted State eyes allegations one law
August 3, 1992
Hearst Newspapers Division
By Kym Fox Express-News Staff Writer

A lawyer referral service operating in San Antonio has come under scrutiny by state authorities amid allegations that one law firm is getting most of the business.

The law firm has disavowed any relationship with the referral service other than that of a subscriber.

The executive director of the three-lawyer firm, however, has been identified as the person who placed ads for the referral service.

South Texas Lawyers Referral Service has been running ads on television and in newspapers in San Antonio since the spring.

The ads offer "free help to locate and hire the appropriate attorney." It promotes a 24-hour telephone number for those looking for a lawyer to handle everything from divorce or personal injury to IRS problems and bail bonds.

"The lawyer you choose will make a difference" the newspaper ad reads.

But callers to the referral service are given little choice.

During the past week, San Antonio Express-News reporters called the referral service 14 times asking to be referred to lawyers who could handle everything from parrot smuggling charges in federal court to divorce and copyright laws. Of the 14 calls, 12 resulted in referrals to the law firm of Davis and Associates.

On two occasions when the name of a second lawyer was requested, the referral service operators said: "We only refer to Davis and Associates."

The referral service gave out another lawyer's name for immigration cases, and suggested noted personal injury lawyer Pat Maloney when asked about workers compensation cases.

Maloney said he has never heard of the referral service, and did not give permission for the use of his name.

"That would be a rather scurrilous misrepresentation," Maloney said, condemning the referral service.

Maloney also said his firm no longer does workers compensation cases because of changes in the law, nor do most other firms.

Authorities at the State Bar of Texas, the state agency that licenses and polices lawyers, are looking into the San Antonio referral service, but said there is no formal investigation of it.

"As far as an investigation, we're looking into it, but I can't comment on it any further," said Jim McCormack, general counsel for the state bar.

"We're aware of that service," McCormack said. "If there is any referral service not in compliance with the law, we're going to look at it."

McCormack said that, for now, his agency is concentrating on shutting down a similar operation in the Fort Worth area called Texas Lawyers Referral Service. In San Antonio

In San Antonio, lawyer Marvin Davis is the owner of Davis and Associates. Working with Davis at the firm are lawyers Frank Taylor and Robert A. Forester. Davis employs Larry Majors, who is not a lawyer, as executive director of the firm.

Davis said his firm subscribes to the referral service but is not otherwise connected. Davis said he does not know who owns or runs the referral service.

"We're not affiliated, we're a member," he said.

Majors also denied knowing who owns or runs the referral service. An advertising representative said, however, that Majors was the one who placed ads for the service earlier this year and that the ad orders were picked up at the offices of Davis and Associates.

Davis said he was unaware that his was the only firm offered for referral in most instances.

Davis suggested the referral service surely would not send clients seeking help with traffic tickets or copyright law to his firm because he does not handle such cases.

When contacted about such cases, however, the referral service again suggested Davis and Associates.

Davis said he was perplexed.

"Somebody ought to straighten them out, and I will take what steps I can," he said.

The law firm may drop the use of the referral operation soon anyway because it is generating too much business, Majors said.

"We are probably going to pull out after this month," Majors said. "It's too time consuming to talk to all the clients."

Majors went on to speculate that the loss of the Davis and Associates business could force the referral service out of business.

"It's probably going to drive them out of San Antonio," he said.

Records at the Secretary of State's office in Austin show the referral service was incorporated April 6 by Vern Brand, with Edith Brand of Arlington as a registered agent.

Repeated requests to speak with a manager or owner of the referral service were not answered. Referrals detailed

At the San Antonio Bar Association, Executive Director Jimmy Allison said his office has received complaints about South Texas Lawyers Referral Service.

Allison said he could not discuss the specifics of the complaints, but said the bar association also has placed calls to the referral service and been referred almost exclusively to Davis and Associates.

"In the calls, everyone has been referred to them," Allison said. "There were 10 or 12, we called for family law, for criminal, securities law, environmental law we covered the gamut, probate law."

The Vernon Civil Statutes contain the law governing lawyer referral services. They must be non-profit and meet a number of criteria. A provision of the law limits to $20 the fee that a lawyer can charge for the first 30-minute consultation for a client referred through such a service.

The San Antonio Bar Association runs its own referral service, one that is sanctioned by the State Bar of Texas. It carries hundreds of lawyers, who pay $100 each to be listed in their area of expertise, Allison said.

"If you run a referral service, it's got to be a public service," Allison said. "We lose money off ours."

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