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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.
Yes, you need an account to purchase and access courses.
You’ll have access to the course for 90 days from the date of purchase. Please check the course details for specific expiration information.
Please note: Course completion or MCLE certificates are only available for 30 days after you complete the course.
An investigation of a complaint typically takes up to six months to be completed. In particularly complex cases, the investigation could take as long as a year. Many complaints are diverted out of the process along the way. For example, there could be a referral to mandatory mediation (an agreement requiring the attorney to meet certain conditions) or the attorney’s participation in other programs.
Attorneys are asked to provide their best, good faith effort at reporting the amount of pro bono and/or reduced fee legal services hours provided to low-income individuals, nonprofit organizations, or public law libraries during the past year to meet the requirement of Business and Professions Code section 6073.2. Per section 6073.2(g), failure to comply with any of the provisions of this section is not grounds for disciplinary or administrative recourse.
No. (Rule 9.47 & 9.48)
No. You must meet all of the requirements for admission to the California bar except that you do not need to take the bar exam or the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam.
No. Notwithstanding a prior disciplinary history, if you are currently licensed and entitled to practice law, you may register as a legal services attorney. However, a record of discipline could lead to an adverse moral character determination depending on the nature of the circumstances leading to the imposition of discipline, the nature and amount of rehabilitation that has taken place, and the length of time since the events that led to discipline. For more information, go to www.calbar.ca.gov>Bar Exam>Moral Character.
Yes. They will receive a standard certificate once the registration process is complete.
Yes. You must indicate on any advertising accessible in California (including internet ads) either that you are not a California bar attorney or that you are admitted to practice only in the states listed in your advertising.
Yes. You must indicate on any advertising accessible in California (including internet ads) either that you are not a California bar attorney or that you are admitted to practice only in the states listed in your advertising.
The only time that a lattorney (or licensee) is not subject to the MCLE requirement is during the time s/he is officially on Inactive status. If the attorney remains an Active attorney, he/she is subject to the MCLE requirement, regardless of whether the attorney is practicing law. See Inactive Status for more information.
If an attorney is Inactive for a portion of the compliance period, the MCLE education requirement is pro-rated, based on the number of months during the compliance period that s/he is subject to. (See Requirements)
If you are at an overseas fingerprint vendor and the technician fails to sign the fingerprinting cards, please contact FingerPrinting Card Request for further assistance.
No, this is not an error. The DOJ Live Scan process requires the employer section of the form to indicate “The State Bar of California.” As part of DOJ and FBI procedures for sharing any criminal offender record information, the entity receiving this information must be listed under the employer section of the Live Scan form. The Live Scan vendor must enter specific information provided on the Live Scan form into the Live Scan software to ensure any information regarding the person’s criminal offender record information goes to the correct agency.
Please do not modify the prepopulated Employer section of the form. Changes to this section could result in failure to successfully submit your fingerprints to the DOJ.
It costs $32 for the DOJ to run a criminal record check and $17 for the FBI to do so, for a total cost of $49. Vendor processing costs differ by vendor, but range from $5 to $75, with an average cost of $33. A list of California Live Scan locations and costs can be found online (DOJ website).
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