Anton Ferdinand's lawyers have advised the QPR defender not to shake John Terry's hand prior to Sunday's west London derby at Chelsea.
This weekend's match at Stamford Bridge is the first time that Ferdinand and Terry have met in a Premier League game since the Chelsea captain was accused of racially abusing the QPR player in October's reverse fixture.
Terry was charged with a racially-aggravated public order offence in December last year following the game, but the former England captain denies the charge and has vowed to fight "tooth and nail'' to clear his name in his trial, which takes place on July 9.
Mark Hughes will hold a meeting with QPR's players on Friday morning to discuss whether to snub Terry's handshake, but Ferdinand's lawyers have advised their client against doing so as they fear it may prejudice the trial of the Chelsea centre-back.
Hughes, meanwhile, wants to know the plans of Ferdinand and the rest of the Rangers team before the game, and the QPR manager will announce whether his team's players will snub Terry's handshake at Friday afternoon's pre-match press conference following a meeting with his players at the club's training ground.
The Football Association cancelled the pre-match handshake when the two clubs met in the FA Cup in January, but the Premier League insists the handshake between the two sides will go ahead this weekend.
Ferdinand has held talks with QPR about the handshake, and the player insists he is in the right frame of mind to play despite the hostile atmosphere he and his team-mates will face in Sunday's derby.
Should Ferdinand snub Terry's handshake, it will mark another chapter in what has been a turbulent year or so for Chelsea's skipper.
Terry regained the England captaincy in March 2011 after originally losing the armband following newspaper allegations about his private life, but he lost the honour again in February after he was charged with racially abusing Ferdinand.
The Chelsea centre-half was sent off on Tuesday night for kneeing Alexis Sanchez in the back during the Blues' Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona.
The Londoners went on to win the tie 3-2 on aggregate, but Terry will be suspended for the final and he apologised for his conduct after the game in the Nou Camp.
The pre-match handshake has been a source of controversy this season, with Luis Suarez refusing to shake Patrice Evra's hand prior to Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at Manchester United in February. That followed an accusation from Evra that Suarez had racially abused him.
The Liverpool player later apologised for not shaking Evra's hand and also served a suspension when the Football Association found Evra's allegations to be proved.
Wayne Bridge refused Terry's handshake in February 2010 when the two players were thrown together for the first time since the scandal that resulted in Terry being stripped of the England captaincy the first time around.
The Premier League insists the fair play ritual, which they introduced into the top flight in 2004, is an important part of the game and will therefore remain.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore told the Sport Industry Breakfast Club last month: "It's not a handshake that says everybody loves everybody else. It's a handshake that says 'whatever c**p's gone on before now and whatever c**p will go on after this game is over, for the next 90 minutes, let's just play a game of football'. It's nothing more symbolic than that, which is why in our view, they should continue - period.''