Is Hire an Esquire compliant with ethics rules?

The short answer is yes, but you should always check the rules in your specific state to be sure.

Hire an Esquire operates as a traditional staffing agency. We provide staffing services that do not facilitate client-attorney transactions. Please see the official ABA rule below.

Payment of fees to placement agencies for temporary attorneys:

ABA Formal Opinion 88-356 indicates that a relationship whereby a contract/temporary attorney is hired on an hourly or fixed fee basis, with a % of those fees being paid to a recruiting or placement agency is not in violation of the Model Rules, due primarily to the nature of services provided by the placement agency.

This Committee is of the opinion that an arrangement whereby a law firm pays to a temporary lawyer compensation in a fixed dollar amount or at an hourly rate and pays a placement agency a fee based upon a percentage of the lawyer's compensation, does not involve the sharing of legal fees by a lawyer with a non-lawyer in violation of Rule 5.4 or DR 3-102(A) of the Code. There is a distinction between the character of the compensation paid to the lawyer and the compensation paid to the placement agency. The temporary lawyer is paid by the law firm for the services the lawyer performs under supervision of the firm for a client of the firm. The placement agency is compensated for locating, recruiting, screening and providing the temporary lawyer for the law firm just as agencies are compensated for placing with law firms non-lawyer personnel (whether temporary or permanent).

Hire an Esquire is not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice. Therefore, you should always check the current rules of your specific state.