Aggregate Settlements: ABA Model Rule 1.8(g)

By Steve Levine · Updated July 3, 2026 · 7 min read

Quick Answer

ABA Model Rule 1.8(g) is the aggregate settlement rule: a lawyer who represents two or more clients can't participate in settling their claims as a package unless each client gives informed consent in a writing signed by that client — after disclosure of all the claims involved and what each participant is getting. It's the ethics backbone of mass tort "inventory" settlements, where one firm settles hundreds of clients' cases at once. Certified class actions work differently: there, absent class members are protected by court approval of the settlement (notice, a fairness hearing, and the right to object or opt out under Rule 23(e)), not by individual signed consents.

On this page

What the Rule Says
Why Group Deals Are Dangerous for Clients
What Must Be Disclosed
Aggregate Settlements vs. Class Actions
Frequently Asked Questions

What the Rule Says

Rule 1.8(g) provides that a lawyer who represents two or more clients shall not participate in making an aggregate settlement of the claims of or against the clients — or, in a criminal case, an aggregated agreement as to guilty or nolo contendere pleas — unless each client gives informed consent, in a writing signed by the client. The lawyer's disclosure must include the existence and nature of all the claims or pleas involved and the participation of each person in the settlement.

Two features make this stricter than most ethics rules: consent must come from every client individually (a majority vote of the group doesn't work, and courts have rejected advance agreements to be bound by a majority), and it must be in a writing signed by the client — not just confirmed in an email from the lawyer.

Why Group Deals Are Dangerous for Clients

When a defendant offers one lump sum to resolve a lawyer's entire slate of cases, every client's interest is in tension with every other client's: a bigger share for one claimant means a smaller share for the rest, and the lawyer — who collects a fee on the whole package — has an incentive to get the deal done rather than to fight for any one client's allocation. This is the classic scenario in mass tort litigation, where a firm may represent hundreds or thousands of injured clients against the same defendant and receive a settlement grid or lump sum covering all of them. Rule 1.8(g) doesn't prohibit those deals; it forces them into the open, client by client.

What Must Be Disclosed

The rule's text requires disclosure of "the existence and nature of all the claims" and "the participation of each person" in the settlement. Ethics opinions and case law applying the rule generally read that to mean each client must be able to see the shape of the whole deal before signing:

• The total amount or structure of the group settlement;
• How the money is allocated — including what the other participating clients are receiving;
• How fees and costs will be deducted across the group; and
• What happens if some clients accept and others refuse.

A client who is shown only their own bottom-line number, with the rest of the deal hidden, hasn't received the disclosure the rule contemplates.

Aggregate Settlements vs. Class Actions

It's easy to confuse the two, because both resolve many claims at once — but the protection mechanism is different:

• In an aggregate settlement of individually represented clients (a mass tort inventory deal), no judge reviews the allocation for fairness. The safeguard is Rule 1.8(g): every client's informed, signed consent.
• In a certified class action, absent class members never sign anything. The safeguard is judicial: under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e), a class settlement requires notice to the class, a fairness hearing, and a court finding that the deal is fair, reasonable, and adequate — plus each member's right to opt out or object.

Mass tort claimants in an MDL usually fall on the aggregate-settlement side of this line: MDL "global settlements" are typically structured as offers to each individually represented plaintiff, which is why participation paperwork and signed releases go out to every claimant rather than a single court order binding everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an aggregate settlement?

An aggregate settlement resolves the claims of two or more clients of the same lawyer or firm together — typically a lump sum or a package deal covering the whole group, common in mass tort "inventory" settlements where a firm settles all of its clients' cases against a defendant at once. Because the deal allocates one recovery across many clients, each client's interest can conflict with the others'.

Can my lawyer settle my case as part of a group without asking me?

Not if you are an individually represented client. Under Model Rule 1.8(g), a lawyer representing two or more clients may not participate in making an aggregate settlement of the clients' claims unless each client gives informed consent in a writing signed by that client. The disclosure must include the existence and nature of all the claims involved and the participation of each person in the settlement — meaning you are entitled to know how the deal treats the group, not just your own line item, before you sign.

Does Rule 1.8(g) apply to class action settlements?

Certified class actions are handled differently. Absent class members are protected by the court-approval process — in federal court, Rule 23(e) requires notice to the class, a fairness hearing, and a judicial finding that the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, plus the right to object or opt out. Rule 1.8(g)'s client-by-client signed consent mechanism is aimed at groups of individually represented clients, such as mass tort inventories, where no judge is reviewing the deal's fairness for each claimant.

What must a lawyer disclose before an aggregate settlement?

The rule requires disclosure of the existence and nature of all the claims involved and of the participation of each person included in the settlement. In practice, courts and ethics opinions read this to require each client to see the total deal and how it is allocated — including what the other participants are receiving — so the client can judge whether their own share is fair before giving signed, informed consent.

Sources

• American Bar Association — Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Table of Contents)
• Cornell LII — Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (including 23(e) on settlement approval)

About This Page

General informational summary of a legal-ethics rule, not legal advice. The ABA Model Rules are a template; the rule that actually governs any particular lawyer is the version adopted in the state where that lawyer is licensed. Anyone asked to consent to a group settlement should review the disclosure with their own lawyer and ask questions before signing.