The report in The Am Law Litigation Daily says that credit is calculated based on the amount of third-party customers the bank refers to their outside law firms. However, the credit would be paid to the bank and not to the third-party customers who are the ones actually paying the legal fees.This credit is on top of other discounts the bank has already negotiated with its legal services providers, the website reports.

Breaking rules

Geoffrey Hazard, an ethics professor at the University of California’s Hastings Law School told the web site that he believed the bank was getting a reduction in legal fees which he described as a 'referral in return for money' adding that he believed it was breaking the rules in all the states.
The bank has defended its position saying its arrangements for fees are transparent and it did not require clients to retain any particular law firm.