IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ALASKA

                         ORDER NO.   1371    

                                   Amending Alaska Rule of Professional
Conduct 5.4(a) concerning the sharing of legal fees with a nonlawyer.


IT IS ORDERED that paragraph (a) of Alaska Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4 is amended to read
as follows:



               (a)  A lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a
          nonlawyer, except that:
          
               (1)  an agreement by a lawyer with the lawyer's firm,
partner, or associate may provide for the payment of money, over a reasonable period of time after
the lawyer's death, to the lawyer's estate or to one or more specified persons;
          
               (2)  a lawyer who purchases the practice of a lawyer who
          is deceased, disabled, or whose whereabouts are unknown may,
pursuant to the provisions of Rule 1.17, pay to the estate or other representative of that lawyer the
agreed-upon purchase price; and
          
               (3)  a lawyer or law firm may include nonlawyer employees
in a compensation or retirement plan, even though the plan is based in whole or in part on a
profit-sharing arrangement.
          



DATED:         September 2, 1999   

EFFECTIVE DATE:            April 15, 2000    



                                                                 
                                   Chief Justice Matthews


                                                                 
                                   Justice Eastaugh


                                                                 
                                   Justice Fabe


                                                                 
                                   Justice Bryner
     

                                                                 
                                   Justice Carpeneti