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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 also accredits the following organizations, which certify attorneys in eleven additional practice areas:
American Board of Certification
National Board of Trial Advocacy
American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys
National Association of Counsel for Children
IOLTA is a primary source of funding for civil legal aid in California. Civil legal aid provides free legal services to those who would not otherwise be able to afford them. On average low-income Californians report experiencing twice as many civil legal problems in a year as nonindigent Californians. Approximately 20 percent of Californians live in poverty and rely on these services for their civil legal needs.
Currently, almost 100 organizations receive IOLTA grants from the State Bar. In 2018 the State Bar distributed over $51 million to support civil legal aid. (This includes other funds besides IOLTA, such as the Equal Access Fund and the Greg E. Knoll Justice Gap Fund.) Top areas where these organizations provided legal assistance included housing, immigration, and family law/domestic violence cases. In 2017, almost 5,000 families were able to stay in their homes, over $16 million in unpaid wages were recovered, and over 2,000 individuals were able to obtain or maintain their health insurance as a result of civil legal aid.
Sources: State Bar of California, The California Justice Gap Study: Measuring the Unmet Civil Legal Needs of Californians (2019); State Bar of California, Making a Difference: California Legal Aid Impact Report (January 2019), pp. 2, 4, 8, 10.
The deadline to show proof of compliance is stated on your MCLE Audit Notice. If you fail to submit adequate proof of compliance by the deadline, you will be assessed a $103 penalty for late compliance, and you will receive a Non-Compliance Notice that gives you 60 days to comply. If you do not submit adequate proof of compliance and pay the late fee within that time period, you will be placed on Not Eligible to Practice status until you submit the required proof of compliance, pay the $103 non-compliance fee, and pay an additional $308 reinstatement fee.
If you are unable to locate your certificates or proof of course completion, please contact your provider immediately to request a copy of the attendance certificate or a printout. Many providers are happy to assist. However, please note that California MCLE course providers are not required to issue replacement certificates. The State Bar only mandates that they provide the original certificate received upon course completion.
Yes, and all courses can be accessed on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. No special software is required. All you need is a modern web browser (Google Chrome is recommended) and a stable internet connection.
Yes, an invoice will be emailed to you after your purchase is complete.
The convicted attorney, the district attorney, and the court are each required, by law, to notify the State Bar any time that an attorney is arrested and charged with a crime or criminally convicted. These overlapping requirements help assure that the State Bar will be notified. When the State Bar receives such a report, the information is forwarded to the State Bar Court. Then it is handled in several different ways, depending upon the nature of the conviction.
If the attorney is convicted of a felony, they are placed on interim suspension pending a disciplinary hearing on the merits in State Bar Court.
Attorneys convicted of a misdemeanor also are put on interim suspension if the crime involved “moral turpitude” by its very nature. Some crimes, such as theft, are designated by law as crimes involving moral turpitude.
If the attorney’s misdemeanor conviction does not by its very nature involve moral turpitude, they face a hearing in State Bar Court to determine the discipline, if any, to be imposed in the case.
Yes. An active licensee who met one of the exemptions in Business and Professions Code section 6073.2(d) for part of the year, but at any point in the year does not meet that exemption, is still required to report the amount of pro bono service hours provided in the past year. Even licensees who are exempt from reporting their pro bono hours must declare their exemption status in My State Bar Profile.
No. The Ethics Hotline provides research assistance, not binding opinions. Advisory opinions can be requested through the Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct.
Fees have not been set. By law, the program must be self-funded through certification fees. Attorney license fees may not be used to support the program.
State Bar staff is drafting recommendations for the Board of Trustees with guidance from an ADR Working Group of experts. The Working Group, its subgroups, and staff develop and review proposals, refine them, and will prepare a tentative proposal for preliminary public comment. The Working Group and staff will consider revising the proposal in light of the comments and will then submit their recommendations to the Board, which will then issue the proposal for another public comment period before deciding on adoption.
You may contact the assigned State Bar accountant or CPA firm’s accountant directly via the contact information they provide when the review begins. You may also reach out to the State Bar’s CTAPP team for questions. The contact information for the State Bar team was included in the initial notice of selection for audit.
After you select a CPA firm and the State Bar has assigned the compliance review engagement to the CPA firm, you will be contacted directly by the CPA firm, who may request additional records, ask clarifying questions, and coordinate with you for the remainder of the compliance review process. The State Bar will remain available to assist if needed.
Possibly. Uncompensated work with an LRS oversight panel may count toward the pro bono hours requirement if it enables the delivery of legal services at a charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental, or education organization in matters in furtherance of its organizational purposes as defined under Business and Professions Code section 6073.1(c)(1)(C). Licensees should use their best judgment when determining whether the work performed, particularly non-legal tasks, enables the direct provision of legal work to the indigent or other nonprofit organizations.
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