Top 10 Tips to Find a Reproductive Attorney for Surrogacy
We know the surrogacy contract process can seem daunting. We’re here to help make it a bit easier by pointing you in the right direction to finding a reproductive attorney. Keep reading for our top 10 tips to selecting a reproductive attorney to guide you through the surrogacy contract process:
Tip #1: Know the Terms
A reproductive attorney might refer to his/her practice area as “reproductive law”, “family formation law”, fertility law”, or “ART law”. You can use any of these terms to recognize a reproductive attorney’s practice.
Tip #2 Look to Your Surrogacy Agency’s Recommendation
An established surrogacy agency will have developed relationships with experienced reproductive attorneys who are familiar with the agency’s policies and procedures. This can make the legal contract process faster and easier for you. So always start with asking your agency for references.
Tip #3 Sufficient Experience with Surrogacy
It’s critical to be working with a lawyer who is experienced in reproductive law. Not with a general practitioner. Not with a family lawyer. Not with an adoption lawyer. You need a reproductive lawyer, period. So check out the attorney’s bio page. Does he/she advertise a practice area consisting of reproductive law such as surrogacy law, egg donation law, and embryo donation law? Is he/she on committees related to reproductive law? Has he/she taught for or attended reproductive law seminars such as those sponsored by the ABA or AAAA (see below for info on these acronyms)? You’re seeking an attorney with a wide breadth of experience in reproductive law. An acceptable alternative is to work with a lawyer who is newer to the field but is being mentored by an experienced reproductive attorney, such as through the formal ART lawyer mentoring program of the American Bar Association.
Tip #4 ABA and/or AAAA
It’s not just a bunch of alphabet soup. The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Family Law Section and The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorney (AAAA or quad-A, and sometimes referred to by its prior name of AAARTA) are the two premier organizations for assisted reproduction lawyers. Most experienced attorneys in this field belong to at least one of these organizations. So check out your attorney’s bio page to see if they belong to either of these organizations. For AAAA, there is also a public membership directory of its fellows.
Tip #5 Personal Experiences
More than a few reproductive attorneys entered this field as a result of their own personal experiences with infertility treatment. You may feel more at ease with a lawyer who has walked your path. Again, the attorney’s website bio is the best place to find this kind of information.
Tip #6 Licensing
Generally, your attorney should be licensed in either your home state or the state where the surrogate plans to give deliver. There are some exceptions to this general rule, though, so don’t assume this rule is as written in stone. In New England, with our small states, cross-border arrangements are very common. For example, there is a portion of Vermont where residents cross into New Hampshire to deliver at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Such an arrangement would involve three states if the intended parents live in, for example, New York. So there needs to be some flexibility with regards to attorney licensing, to meet the unique needs of the smaller states found in New England Surrogacy’s region.
Tip #7 Surrogacy and More
Some reproductive attorneys handle surrogacy matters primarily, while others also work on egg donation, embryo donation, reproductive estate planning, second parent adoption, and so forth. You may find that an attorney with a broader practice area can meet all of your surrogacy-related legal needs, not just your surrogacy contract and pre-birth order. This can make the process more streamlined for you.
Tip #8 Conflicts of Interest
An attorney who owns, or has another financial interest in, your surrogacy agency obviously has a conflict of interest. This is something that must be disclosed to you, but it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker for an attorney-client relationship. The reason is that both you and the attorney have the shared goal of seeing a smooth journey for your surrogacy arrangement. An attorney who has close ties to the agency also may have more sway with the agency if you need something out of the norm, so don’t automatically assume that a conflict of interest is always a negative.
Tip #9 Free Consultations
Most reproductive attorneys offer free consultations. Take advantage of this to ask your prospective attorney some questions to see if they will be a good fit. Here are some possible questions to ask:
· How much of your practice is reproductive law?
· Does your reproductive law practice encompass just surrogacy, or also other types of ART law?
· How long have you been practicing reproductive law?
· Will we be working directly with you or primarily with a paralegal?
· For our match, what state’s laws are the best to apply and are you familiar with those laws or have another way to ensure that our contract is reviewed by an attorney licensed in that state?
· How are your legal fees calculated?
· When is our payment due? If due before the work is done, will the money be held in an IOLTA or IOLA trust account?
Tip #10 Flat Fees
With few exceptions, reproductive lawyers bill through flat fees. This means that they give you an upfront dollar amount, instead of billing per hour. Hourly billing is not very effective in this area of law. The one exception is for a one time in-depth consultation on a specific issue, where a lawyer can offer his/her services in increments shorter than one hour. But, generally, you are looking for flat fees so you can anticipate the legal fees in advance.