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Both arbitration and mediation involve a neutral third party. In arbitration, the arbitrator hears evidence and arguments, and then issues a decision that may be binding or nonbinding. In mediation, the mediator helps the parties reach their own voluntary agreement.
No. Both sides must agree to mediation. The State Bar will notify the opposing party if mediation is requested.
If you received a Notice of Client’s Right to Fee Arbitration form from the attorney, you have 30 days from the date you received it to submit your arbitration request form to the program. You must also submit your arbitration request if you first wish to mediate the fee dispute.
If you do not file the request form within 30 days of receiving the notice, you will lose your right to arbitrate your fee dispute. A telephone call or letter to the program requesting arbitration will not protect that right. You must be sure that the request form is complete and submitted with any required filing fee.
If the attorney has already filed a lawsuit against you for unpaid fees, you may elect either to respond to the lawsuit or request fee arbitration. If you file a response to the lawsuit, you will lose your right to arbitrate the fee dispute. If you request arbitration, the lawsuit will be stayed, but you should file the appropriate notice of automatic stay with the court. To preserve your right to arbitrate, you should file a request for arbitration promptly.
Your request for mediation is part of the State Bar request for arbitration, so it will follow the same timelines listed above.
No. The mediator will not decide any issues related to attorney misconduct and/or malpractice and has no authority to make any determinations regarding the attorney’s conduct or to discipline attorneys for professional misconduct.
If you wish to file a disciplinary complaint with the State Bar of California about your attorney’s conduct, you may do so online. Please keep in mind that a discipline complaint and a request to arbitrate and mediate a fee dispute are separate matters. Filing a complaint may result in disciplinary action against the attorney; however, the result may or may not require the attorney to refund fees.
To help you decide whether to file a complaint, visit the Want to File a Complaint webpage.
If you think you have a separate claim for legal malpractice, you should seek legal counsel.
If you are seeking a refund of attorney’s fees that you have already paid, you may request fee mediation as a preliminary option along with arbitration as long as you are still within the legal time limit for filing a lawsuit about the fee dispute. To preserve your right to arbitrate, and to potentially mediate a fee dispute, you should file a request for arbitration promptly.
For disputes filed with the State Bar, simply check the box agreeing to mediate on the request for fee arbitration form. Some local bar associations offer fee mediation in addition to fee arbitration. Find local fee arbitration programs.
Yes. Mediation is voluntary and either side can decline to mediate. All parties must agree for a mediation to go forward.
Mediations will take place by videoconference. Usually, the parties are in separate areas to start but may be brought together later in the process. The mediator will typically meet separately with one party, and then the other, to understand their perspectives and to identify areas of potential agreement. This “shuttle diplomacy” will take place until an agreement is reached, or until it is clear to the mediator that it is not possible for the parties to reach an agreement. If an agreement is reached, it will be memorialized in a writing called a settlement agreement.
You may be represented by an attorney, but it is not required. You can arrange for an interpreter to attend the mediation with you.
The mediation is confidential. This means that nothing said in a mediation can be used as evidence in any later proceeding by any party at the mediation.
The decision to agree to mediate is entirely up to you, but the attorney will also have to agree in order for the mediation to occur.
If the dispute is eligible to be filed with the State Bar for fee arbitration, you will have the option of agreeing to mediation as part of the request for arbitration. Some local bars also offer fee mediation, but most local programs only offer fee arbitration.
When you complete the Request for Arbitration with the State Bar, you will be asked to indicate whether you are interested in mediating the fee dispute. Once your request is accepted, including receipt of payment of the applicable fee arbitration filing fee, the State Bar will serve your request to the opposing party. As part of the opposing party’s written reply to the request, they will indicate whether they agree to mediate the fee dispute prior to arbitration.
If both parties agree to mediation, a mediator will be assigned to help you and attorney try to reach a settlement of your dispute, and you will receive further instructions at that time.
The State Bar does not refer clients to lawyers or provide legal advice. We provide a directory of certified Lawyer Referral Services in your area who may be able to help you find a lawyer. Please see our Find Legal Professionals section for resources. The State Bar also publishes free legal information for consumers.
If you believe your lawyer has done something wrong, you can file a complaint with the State Bar. Complaints may be submitted online or by mail. If you have questions or need assistance in completing the form, call the State Bar’s Attorney Complaint Hotline at 800-843-9053. For more information on reporting a lawyer to the State Bar and handling other problems, read the legal guide If You Have a Problem with an Attorney.
If you have a complaint about a certified or uncertified LRS, you can file a complaint against the service with the State Bar. In order to promote public protection, the State Bar will review your complaint to determine if the LRS has violated Business and Professions Code Section 6155 and State Bar Rules.
For more information on certified lawyer referral services, contact LRS@calbar.ca.gov.
The due date is by March 30, or the next business day if that date falls on a weekend or holiday, each year during the annual license renewal process. The 2025 annual deadline is April 1, 2025. If you miss the deadline, you will be charged a penalty ($103 for active attorneys, $31 for inactive attorneys).
Activities that qualify for general MCLE credit must: (1) relate to legal subjects that are directly relevant to California attorneys, and (2) offer current, significant educational, professional, or practical content with the specific objective of increasing each participant’s professional competency as an attorney. Programs created primarily for nonattorney audiences (for example, general public, clients, or business staff) do not qualify and will not be approved for general MCLE credit. More on Standards for MCLE activity Approval.
IOLTA stands for Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts. Attorneys deposit client funds that they plan to hold briefly, or that are too small to earn interest for the client, into larger shared accounts. Over 73,000 attorneys make deposits in approximately 49,000 IOLTA accounts in California. As of September 2019, IOLTA accounts hold nearly $5 billion. Any interest earned on these accounts is paid by financial institutions to the State Bar, which in turn distributes those funds as grants to qualified nonprofit civil legal organizations throughout the state.
Refer to the State Bar’s IOLTA FAQ page for more information.
This means you are not entitled to practice California law and your public State Bar records will note this period of not entitled status.
The State Bar’s statutory mission to protect the public “includes support for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system” (see California Business and Professions Code, section 6001.1). The State Bar’s Strategic Plan takes a systemic and institutional approach to increasing diversity and inclusion in the profession. A major component of this work is collecting, analyzing, and presenting comprehensive, current, and accurate data on California’s licensed attorneys through an annual voluntary Attorney Census that captures the following demographic characteristics: race/ethnicity, gender identity, cis/transgender identity, sexual identity, disability status, and military status.
The Attorney Census also assists the State Bar in complying with California Rule of Court rule 9.9 and California Business and Professions Code sections 6002.1 and 6009.5.
If you receive a notice of deficiency and are able to locate more certificates for courses taken within the compliance period, please submit them as an attachment to the Licensee Records and Compliance Inquiry form. Please remember to include the MCLE Audit Submission Cover Sheet and a letter of explanation whenever responding to a Notice of Deficiency.
Conducts research, evaluation, and data management to support the State Bar’s multiple missions, management accountability, and effectiveness, and to inform planning and policy initiatives. The office also supports the State Bar in fulfilling its unique role as a statewide aggregator and distributor of data about California’s legal profession.
The prosecutorial arm of the State Bar, OCTC carries out the agency's public protection mission by investigating and prosecuting attorneys for violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct and the State Bar Act. The office also investigates and pursues complaints regarding the unauthorized practice of law. OCTC can go to court to seize unauthorized law practices, partners with law enforcement on criminal prosecution, and pursues civil penalties against those involved in the unauthorized practice of law.
The course is three hours long. However, you may take it at your own pace and save your progress.
If you are taking the course as the result of being disciplined by the State Bar, CLE credit is not available. Attorneys completing the course for this purpose must submit a certificate of completion to the Office of Case Management and Supervision upon completion of the course.
If you are taking this course as a condition of an abeyance stipulation related to an Application for Determination of Moral Character, MCLE credit is not available. Individuals completing the course for this purpose must submit a certificate of completion to the Office of Admissions upon conclusion of the course.
When browsing the course catalog, select “Ethics School—The Rules of Professional Conduct.” Do not select the course that covers similar content (e.g., “The Rules of Professional Conduct”). Taking any similar voluntary course will not satisfy your mandatory obligation to complete the course, whether mandated by an order of the California Supreme Court or the State Bar Court, or required by the Office of Admissions. To satisfy a mandatory obligation, you must take the mandatory Ethics School course, which is not eligible for MCLE credit.
You can make changes to your address of record online by logging into your My State Bar Profile. For more information, go to Attorney Address Change.
No.
Your prior account information will be migrated into the new AIMS. You will receive an e-mail on March 1, 2019 with instructions on how to log-in to the AIMS along with a direct link to reset your password (if you didn’t receive the e-mail, check your SPAM folder).
List any languages, besides English, in which you, or your staff, are fluent enough to communicate with clients on legal matters.
For guidance on selecting an attorney, the State Bar publications,
How Can I Find and Hire the Right Lawyer?
and
What Can a Lawyer Referral Service Do for Me?
will give you tips on choosing the right attorney.
The State Bar provides information about California attorneys through its online directory. An attorney’s official State Bar record includes:
Submission of falsified documentation will result in a referral to the Office of Chief Trial Counsel for further investigation and/or disciplinary action.
No. Please do not submit your receipts. A receipt is not considered sufficient proof of course completion. If you cannot find your certificates, contact the provider, send them your receipts, and ask for their assistance in helping provide proof of course completion.
Providers are required to maintain proof of attendance for four years. Contact your provider to obtain your certificates of attendance and exhaust all possible avenues to find your attendance records before completing additional courses. Submitting out of period coursework may result in your audit file being referred to the Office of Chief Trial Counsel for further investigation and/or disciplinary prosecution.
It may. A lawyer’s duty to report another lawyer begins on the rule’s effective date: August 1, 2023. However, to the extent a lawyer knows of credible evidence of another lawyer’s conduct that occurred prior to August 1, 2023, the lawyer is obligated to report that past conduct because the lawyer’s knowledge exists on or after the effective date of rule 8.3.
No, rule 8.3 applies to reporting misconduct of another lawyer. However, licensees have self-reporting obligations, and this rule does not excuse a lawyer from reporting their own conduct in certain instances. (See Rule 8.4.1(d) & (e); Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6068, subd. (o).)
Your supervising attorney must be an active licensee of the State Bar of California in good standing for at least two years before beginning supervision. They must also have practiced law in California as a full-time occupation for at least four years in any U.S. jurisdiction. Please refer to rules 9.41.1 and 9.45 of the California Rules of Court.
A Testing Accommodations Application must be completed and received by the State Bar no later than the following:
• January 1 for the February California Bar Examination;
• June 1 for the July California Bar Examination;
• May 15 for the June First-Year Law Students’ Examination; or
• September 15 for the October First-Year Law Students’ Examination.
The California Bar Examination will be administered in person. When registering to take the exam, all applicants will be required to choose a standard testing site but will also have the opportunity to indicate their preferred testing accommodations location. In the event that you are granted accommodations that require you to be at a testing accommodations site, staff will reassign you, and your Admittance Ticket will reflect the updated testing accommodations site.
The exam is comprised of 100 multiple-choice questions administered in two 90-minute sessions, with a 20-minute break between sessions.
Yes, PDF documents are preferred. Word documents are discouraged, as incompatible versions may create technical issues. There is a 25 MB upload limit per post.
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