According to the NYS Bar Association, in Ethics Opinion 1237, "A lawyer may not accept the referral of real estate closings from a real estate agent who is associated with a real estate company owned by the lawyer where the real estate agent and the real estate company will split the brokerage commission earned on the real estate transaction, regardless of whether the attorney agrees to waive in favor of the real estate clients the portion of the real estate commission due to his real estate agency."

So, a broker / lawyer cannot take referrals of closings from an agent who works at that lawyer's / broker's real estate brokerage. It does not matter if the lawyer "waived any brokerage commission" he would otherwise receive in favor of his client. 

The reason is that his agent will nonetheless receive a commission split and that constitutes the payment for referrals. 

The takeaway is that an attorney should choose to do closings or work in brokerage, not both.

Subdivision two of Section 39 of the Banking Law is hereby modified to provide that it shall be deemed an unsafe and unsound business practice if, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, any bank which is subject to the jurisdiction of the Department shall not grant a forbearance to any person or business who has a financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic for a period of ninety days... The Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services shall ensure under reasonable and prudent circumstances that any licensed or regulated entities provide to any consumer in the State of New York an opportunity for a forbearance of payments for a mortgage for any person or entity facing a financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Superintendent shall promulgate emergency regulations to require that the application for such forbearance be made widely available for consumers, and such application shall be granted in all reasonable and prudent circumstances solely for the period of such emergency. 

• What does subject to the jurisdiction of the Department mean in the Order? Specifically, there are two charting systems for banks; federal and state. The Federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency controls federally chartered banks pursuant to the National Bank Act. Generally, you can tell that a bank is federally chartered because it has the initials N.A. after its name. As a result, NYS doesn't have jurisdiction over federally chartered banks so how does this work if you have a loan through a federal bank like many NYS residents do?
• When is the Superintendent promulgating emergency regulations and how are consumers going to understand those regulations if attorneys at law were not labeled as essential services under the quarantine and therefore are becoming less available by the minute? Yes, some law firms are open and working remotely, but for how long with many clerks' offices closed and all court deadlines tolled (yesterday's Executive Order 202.8), including "any specific time limit for the commencement, filing, or service of any legal action, notice, motion, or other process or proceeding."
• By adding the words business & entity, is it intended that this applies to both residential and commercial property?
• Is there a limit on the amount of the mortgage for this to be applicable?
• After the forbearance is over, what happens to the money deferred (i.e., back end balloon, recapitalized, ballooned immediately, something else)?
• Will the Superintendent of DFS be answering these questions or someone else; plus, will the answers be part of a regulation or just advisory?