Champion

This petition invites us to examine the intricate web woven by a legal partnership specializing in personal injury litigation. A former partner asks us to (1) find that the partnership’s agreement for sharing fees for unfinished cases taken by a departing partner violates several rules of professional conduct, and (2) declare that he is entitled to share in the profits of the partnership from all cases pending at the time of his departure. Other former partners and a former client appear as amici curiae in support of the petition. We examine the web because it reaches far into the community, entangling other former partners and former clients. We conclude that because of rule 2-107 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California and because of public policy, the partnership agreement may not be enforced. We conclude, however, that petitioner is not entitled to share the fees from all cases pending at the time of his departure. In the second part of our opinion, we consider requests to seal the record of this proceeding. We explain the procedures to be used in appellate courts when seeking to file or lodge confidential documents.

In March of 1985, the…