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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.
Yes.
Neither licensees nor providers report attendance at an approved activity to the State Bar of California. Rather, licensees are responsible for keeping track of their own education. Attorneys must keep the certificates of attendance that providers distribute when attending a participatory education activity. (Providers are required to keep a record for four years of licensee's attendance at provider's participatory activities. Duplicate certificates of attendance may be available from the provider.)
Please note that a personal CLE log of self-study education activities must also be maintained. See Compliance Information for Record Keeping Requirements.
The State Bar will not be informing attorneys when their fingerprinting results have been received by the State Bar. Rather, attorneys are advised when they are in compliance with California Rule of Court 9.9.5 and that their fingerprints have been successfully submitted to the DOJ. The State Bar cannot advise on how long an initial background check takes, as this may vary. Additionally, since the process is an ongoing one entailing subsequent notifications from the DOJ in the future, the State Bar cannot advise an attorney that a background check is “complete.”
Criminal information reports received by the State Bar from the DOJ are required to be kept confidential. If you would like to request a copy of a DOJ record relating to yourself, you must request that record from the DOJ pursuant to procedures set forth in the California Penal Code. See Ca. Penal Code sections 11122-11123.
When you receive the arbitration award, you will also receive information about your options after arbitration. This is called the Notice of Your Rights After Arbitration. The Notice should answer most questions you have regarding your rights. Pay close attention to the deadlines in the notice.
A report to the State Bar can be made using this online complaint form. When completing the form, you should indicate that you are a lawyer, and you are submitting under rule 8.3. In some instances, a lawyer can report another lawyer to a tribunal, as defined in rule 1.0.1(m), but only if the tribunal has jurisdiction to investigate or act upon such misconduct. A lawyer who intends to report to a tribunal should review rule 8.3 Comment [6].
An e-learning portal is a personalized website for accessing e-learning courses and other educational content.
The overall course credit report is a graphical representation depicting the total number of courses completed and the associated credit hours earned. To display it, select the option Overall Course Credit Report from the Reports tab.
No. Your completion status will be captured and reported to the State Bar automatically and displayed on your online My State Bar Profile. However, if you are audited for compliance, you will need to provide copies of your MCLE certificates of completion as verification.
The court must approve your application in order for you to appear as PHV in a case. While the State Bar's Applicant Portal may show that your PHV case is "approved," this refers to the internal processing of your application and should not be taken as the court's approval of your appearance as PHV.
Courses required by AB 1825 (mandatory sexual harassment awareness and prevention training for personnel managers) are approved for recognition and elimination of bias MCLE credit.
Yes, however, a live podcast can only be approved retroactively. A prerecorded podcast may be approved in advance of air date if a transcript of the podcast is submitted as part of the application.
No, the same instruction time cannot be allocated to more than one subfield. The instruction time can, however, be divided among multiple subfields.
Any active status attorney who can demonstrate total 2024 gross annual individual income from all sources of less than ($60,478.35) may qualify for a 25 percent reduction in their annual license fee.
The State Bar may conduct a random audit of scaling applications during the billing year and applicants may be required to submit tax forms and other proof of financial condition.
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