Opinion ID: 1835420
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Enforceability of the Alleged Contract

Text: Langston Frazer maintains that even if such a fee-splitting contract did exist, the contract would not be enforceable because Cunningham is licensed as an attorney in Mississippi, not Alabama. McRae v. Sawyer, 473 So.2d 1006 (Ala.1985). In McRae, we held that a lawyer unlicensed [to practice law] in Alabama cannot enforce a contract to provide legal services in this state. McRae, 473 So.2d at 1009. However, in McRae the contract at issue was a contract between an out-of-state attorney and an in-state client to provide legal services. Here, the contract alleged by Cunningham was not a contract to provide legal services; rather, the alleged contract was an agreement between attorneys to split any fees that would be awarded. Unlike the situation in McRae, there was no agreement by Cunningham to provide legal services to Langston Frazer. Therefore, the alleged contract between Cunningham and Langston Frazer is not within the scope of the McRae holding and McRae would not make it unenforceable in Alabama.