If a client brings you an Ohio employment matter or a Title IX matter you do not handle, Sean H. Sobel accepts referrals and co-counsel arrangements. The intake is written, the conflict check comes first, and you hear back in writing.
Sobel Law Solutions represents employees, not employers. On the employment side, that means Ohio matters involving discrimination and harassment under Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, and R.C. Chapter 4112; retaliation and whistleblower claims; FMLA interference and retaliation; wrongful termination; unpaid wages, commissions, and bonuses; public employee rights, including Loudermill hearings and civil service appeals; and teacher contract matters under R.C. Chapter 3319.
The firm also handles defined-scope work that many litigation practices do not want: written review and negotiation of severance agreements, non-competes, employment and physician contracts, and executive separations. If your client is holding a document with a deadline, this is often the fastest path.
The Title IX practice advises students, faculty, and staff at colleges, universities, and K-12 schools nationwide, as complainants or respondents, from notice through hearing and appeal, and handles Title IX litigation in federal court.
The firm does not take employer-side work or workers’ compensation benefits claims.
Fees between lawyers in different firms are divided only on the terms Ohio Prof.Cond.R. 1.5(e) allows. The division is either in proportion to the services each lawyer performs, or each lawyer assumes joint responsibility for the representation and agrees to be available for consultation with the client. The client gives written consent after full disclosure of each lawyer’s identity, that the fee will be divided, and the basis for the division. The total fee stays reasonable, and in a contingent-fee matter, unless a court approves the fee division, the written closing statement is signed by the client and each lawyer.
Those terms go into writing at the start, in the engagement agreement the client signs, so nobody is negotiating a referral fee at the end of a case. If you would rather stay on the matter as co-counsel, the division of work is set out the same way.
1. Written intake. Send the details below. The form asks for the employer or other party first, because the conflict check comes before anything else.
2. Conflict check and a reply to you. The firm aims to send you a written reply on whether it can look at the matter within one business day, though timing depends on volume.
3. Contact with the client. With the client’s permission, Sean contacts them directly, in writing first, and explains how to send documents.
4. A clear yes or no. If the firm takes the matter, the engagement terms, including any fee division, are set in writing. If it does not, you and the client are told promptly, with any deadline that is apparent from what was sent, so the client can look elsewhere without losing time.
Every matter is different. Descriptions of typical timing, fees, and outcomes are general and do not guarantee any particular result in your client’s case.
A few fields and a sentence or two. Please do not send the client’s documents yet.
Submitting this form does not create an attorney-client relationship with the client or with you, and no fee division exists until it is agreed in writing with the client’s consent.
Email sobel@sobellawsolutions.com with the employer or other party in the subject line, or call (216) 282-9776.
Sean H. Sobel presents CLE programs for attorneys on separation agreements and Title IX. Full bio ›
Fees can be divided with a referring lawyer in a different firm when Ohio Prof.Cond.R. 1.5(e) is satisfied: the division is in proportion to the work each lawyer performs, or each lawyer assumes joint responsibility for the representation and agrees to be available for consultation with the client; the client gives written consent after full disclosure of the lawyers involved, that the fee will be divided, and the basis of the division; and the total fee is reasonable. The terms are put in writing before the representation begins.
Yes, to the extent the client agrees. Status updates to a referring lawyer are covered in the engagement agreement, and where the referring lawyer shares joint responsibility, that lawyer remains involved in the representation.
Only what the form asks for: the employer or other party, the client's name, the type of matter, any deadline you know of, and a sentence or two on the facts. Please do not send the client's documents yet. The conflict check comes first, and the client will be told how to send documents after it clears.
Title IX advising is handled at institutions nationwide. Employment matters are generally Ohio-based, and out-of-state employment matters are evaluated case by case. Sean H. Sobel is licensed in Ohio; a court proceeding outside Ohio would require local counsel or admission pro hac vice.
Written intake, conflict check first, and fee terms in writing from the start.
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