Committee on Professional Ethics v. Baker
Iowa Supreme Court
492 N.W.2d 695 (1992)
Financial planner Voegtlin ran seminars promoting living trusts, decided with a bank officer which specific estate-planning instruments each referred client needed before ever sending them to attorney Baker (defendant), and Baker accepted around 100 such referrals over two years — earning roughly $40,000 — without ever counseling against the living trusts Voegtlin had already recommended, even after the state bar's ethics commission (plaintiff) published opinions criticizing this exact kind of arrangement.
Whether an attorney who helps a nonlawyer market and recommend living trusts for client referrals instead of applying the attorney's own professional judgment is subject to discipline under the ethical rules.