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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.
By statute, the State Bar is required to maintain certain information about California attorneys. Go to Look Up A Lawyer and follow the directions. For information about hiring an attorney, see our Need Legal Help section.
There are only two criteria. A financial institution must agree that it will pay at least 68 percent of the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) on IOLTA accounts or a floor rate of 0.68 percent, whichever is higher, and waive fees and charges on ALL IOLTA accounts, regardless of the account’s size.
Most certified LRSs charge a fee — about $40 to $75 — for a referral to a lawyer. This referral fee sometimes includes the initial consultation with the lawyer(s). Under the State Bar rules, the combined referral fee and the fee for the lawyer cannot cost more than it would if you found the lawyer yourself, without the help of an LRS.
An LRS may also be able to recommend a free or low cost legal service program in your area depending on the nature of your issue and your income. Such services include a modest means panel (lawyers charging reduced fees), a limited scope panel (lawyers offering help with a specific portion of case as opposed to the whole case), a flat fee panel (where the client is charged a set fee rather than an hourly fee for the service), sliding scale options, a payment schedule or a free referral for a 30-minute initial consultation.
Note that LRSs are not required to offer reduced rate panels or services for people of limited means across all referral panels. Be sure to ask which service(s) the LRS provides.
For more information on hiring a lawyer, read the free Finding the Right Lawyer legal guide.
The State Bar investigates complaints of attorney misconduct. This website provides instruction and online forms in several languages for filing a complaint. If you need help you can also call the multilingual Attorney Complaint Hotline at 800-843-9053.
The meetings of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation are not open to the public.
Information about becoming an attorney is in the Admissions section. There you'll find additional information about getting a legal education. You can also find information about taking the California Bar Exam.
You can find information about Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) compliance requirements and providers.
A SAP’s application/program is approved for a period of two years from the date of the activity. An approval for MAP status is granted for a period of two years.
Substantive written materials handouts, presentations, slides, or other documents that provider meaningful written explanations of the topics and legal authorities covered in the program. They must do more than list agenda items or display primary sources; they should contain analysis, discussion, and practical guidance at a level that allows an attorney to use the materials as a stand-alone reference after the course. Materials consisting only of brief bullet point outlines, agendas, unannotated copies of cases, statutes, or regulations, or slide decks that are mainly pictures, charts, or a few large font bullet points without explanatory text are not considered substantive.
The California licensee is responsible for reporting their compliance/credit hours earned to the State Bar at the end of their reporting period.
Panelist credit hours should be calculated by dividing the actual program time by the number of panelists participating. The following is an example of a 1-hour program with three panelists:
Calculate your total gross annual individual income for 2024 to the best of your ability. If you later determine that you do not qualify, contact the Division of Regulation to coordinate payment of the difference owed.
Disbarred, resigned, not-eligible, active, and inactive licensees with outstanding debt owed to the State Bar.
The offer considers several factors, including the type of debt, the licensee status of the individual, and the amount of debt.
No, there are no additional fees or interest for choosing the installment payment option. If you opt for an installment plan of four or less payments, your monthly installments will be of equal value. If you opt for an installment plan of five or more payments, the first installment will be 25% of the settled value and subsequent installments will be of equal value.
Business and Professions Code section 6140.5 authorizes the State Bar to collect interest on CSF payments due. The interest rate is approved annually by the Board of Trustees (CSF Rule 3.45), and has been set at 10 percent per year, calculated from the date of disbursement. Judgments with underlying CSF debt also accrue interest on the CSF payments at the same rate.
If your organization has already implemented five of the ten Action Items (including the two that are required) at the time of application, please indicate that on your application and provide the requested documentation. If your employer’s implementation of the Action Items is sufficient, you can receive the DEI Leadership Seal as soon as your application is reviewed.
The Action Items were derived, in part, from the Calls to Action in the State Bar’s 2022 Diversity Report Card and based on research on best practices to improve workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as feedback from various stakeholders across a variety of sectors in the legal profession. The Calls to Action, available by sector, provide additional best practices and resources. Calls to Action for attorneys are also available to encourage individuals to take an active role in advancing DEI in the workplace.
Participating employers and seal recipients will be listed on the State Bar website. The State Bar plans to provide opportunities for participating employers to convene and discuss their DEI efforts, for example, at future Diversity Summits. The State Bar regularly hosts Diversity Summits to convene stakeholders to present and discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices in the legal profession.
The State Bar is also exploring additional benefits and opportunities it can provide to or facilitate for participating employers and seal recipients. These might include opportunities to participate in social media campaigns about the program, preferred job boards, and career fairs.
Speaking
Please submit course marketing materials that clearly show that the course was approved for MCLE, who the speakers were and how long the course was. You should also submit your certificate of attendance for that course if you were provided with one.
You may only claim speakers credit for approved MCLE activities. If you were part of a panel or you only presented a portion of the program you may only claim incremental speakers credit for the activity.
Teaching
You receive 12 times the credit hours awarded by the law school for the course. There is an exception for subfield requirements in Ethics, Elimination of Bias, Implicit Bias, Mental Competence (mental issues in the legal world or society), Wellness (mental competence specifically in the legal world ), Civility and Technology hours. For these "subfields," you only receive the actual speaking time.
To fill out the online form use the law school as the provider, the course title as the course and the date the class started as the date. Mark the course as participatory and note any qualifying subfield hours. Submit a syllabus and a letter from the law school stating that you were an instructor, the dates of the course, and the number of academic credits the school awarded for it.
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