Moreover, the plaintiff's undertaking to deal with the municipality and the letter of authorization that was given, for this purpose, were created from the outset, in order to circumvent the problematic situation that stemmed from the agreement with municipal taxes. Kotler testified that at first the intention was to negotiate only one contract, but according to an explanation he received, "this is contrary to the regulations of the Bar Association... Instead, we made two agreements, and there it got me a little complicated." (p. 134, lines 26-27, 29).
The splitting of the agreement into two agreements did not solve the aforementioned problem; in clause 5 of the agreement, it was determined that the plaintiff would recommend an attorney to the client. According to the payment mechanism that was determined, the attorney's salary will be derived from the plaintiff's salary, and to the extent that the client chooses the attorney according to the plaintiff's recommendation, the plaintiff's salary will be reduced. In her statement of claim, the plaintiff claimed that the defendant chose to reduce the costs involved in contracting with Kotler, by authorizing an attorney to represent her, "and this is according to Mr. Kotler's recommendation." (Paragraph 23 of the statement of claim).
Section 11B of the Bar Association Rules (Professional Ethics), 5746-1986 (hereinafter: the "Rules of Ethics") establishes prohibitions on a lawyer from providing legal services in certain cases. Subsection A discusses the provision of legal services to a client referred by a non-lawyer entity:
"A lawyer shall not provide legal service to a client who has been referred by an entity - which is not a lawyer, a partnership of lawyers or a law firm - that operates for profit and for this purpose advertises the provision of legal services to the public."
High Court of Justice 9596/02 Intensive Compensation, The Experts for the Exercise of Medical Rights and Insurance v. The Minister of Justice, [Nevo] (17 June 2004), the Supreme Court ruled that the purpose of this rule is the desire to ensure the fulfillment of the legal and ethical obligations imposed on lawyers and to prevent their circumvention. The concern of circumventing these obligations arises when the clients' relationship is with non-lawyers, and the latter, for their part, refer the clients to the lawyers. The rules of the Bar Association, which establish a long list of ethical obligations imposed on lawyers in their relations with their clients and other lawyers, do not apply to the referrers. Among other things, these rules establish the prohibition on soliciting customers in order to obtain work from them, the prohibition on acting in a conflict of interest, the prohibition on qualifying an advertisement, and the like. These provisions apply only to a person who is a lawyer and a member of the bar, and does not apply to external entities that may act in contravention of the prohibitions that apply to lawyers - whether in order to win clients, by stipulating with clients different terms or in any other way. They are not expected to be sanctioned for conduct that lawyers are prohibited from.