He got a 1099NEC for  business income?  was the attorney a business expense? 

If this was a lawsuit settlement, most settlements, you dont get to deduct atty fees anymore, they took that away in TCJA back in 2018, very few situations allow attorney fee deduction anymore.

Your post isn't clear.  I am reading it a little differently than Lisa.

If you are asking what your client, the attorney does, for a 1099NEC form received which should have gone to the law firm, this is what I would do.

First, try to have it re-issued correctly.  If they do that, problem resolved.

If that doesn't work, then I would fill out a Schedule C reporting the income so IRS matching program is happy.  Then I would subtract this same amount on the other expense line of Schedule C with the identifier "1099NEC received in error".  If you want to provide more detail, you could attach a statement explaining who should have gotten it with their tax number, which your client should have if he works for that firm.

My turn!

"Where do these get recorded if payments were made to the firm and not the individual attorney."

I have a third interpretation: the attorney is a partner typically paid directly for fees, and the firm operating costs are split. This time, the income got directed to the firm, not the individual attorney. You have a partnership special allocation?

Who wins the battle of interpretation?

Wow, at least 3 different interpretations of what is being asked.

To the original poster:  qbteachmt, Lisa, and myself, as well as others here are willing and want to provide assistance.  If any of these posts address your issue, please accept as a solution.  If not, please provide additional info to clarify what you are asking for guidance on.