<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Laws applied </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Section I of the Sherman Act </Td> </Tr> <P> Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 421 U.S. 773 (1975), was a U.S. Supreme Court decision . It stated that lawyers engage in "trade or commerce" and hence ended the legal profession's exemption from antitrust laws . </P> <P> In 1971, Ruth and Lewis Goldfarb decided to buy a house in Fairfax County, Virginia . To get a mortgage, they needed to perform a title search on the house, which can only be performed by a lawyer i.e. a member of the Virginia State Bar . Goldfarb contacted a lawyer, who quoted him a price suggested in a minimum - fee schedule published by the Fairfax County Bar Association, which was 1% of the property's value . Goldfarb attempted to find a cheaper quote . He sent 36 letters to other lawyers and received 19 responses, all declining to quote a fee lower than the minimum - fee schedule suggests . Some said that they did not know of any attorney who would do so . Unable to find a lower price, Goldfarb agreed to the 1% quote and subsequently sued both the State Bar and the County Bar alleging that the fee schedule amounted to price - fixing and a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, seeking both injunctive relief and damages . </P>

The goldfarb v. virginia state bar decision on anti-trust laws was decided at what level