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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.
You have two options: (1) You can return to California and follow the instructions for being re-fingerprinted by a Live Scan vendor using the same OATI number; OR (2) You can order fingerprint cards and follow the instructions for out-of-state attorneys or out-of-country attorneys.
The Handbook on Client Trust Accounting for California Attorneys is the primary resource. The State Bar also maintains an online list of resources on client trust accounting as well as information about IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts) requirements. If you have questions, please fill out the Licensee Records and Compliance Inquiry Form.
The IOLTA Program is a department within the State Bar of California that administers IOLTA accounts, as well as two other sources of funding for free civil legal aid to low-income and indigent people: the California Equal Access Fund and the Greg E. Knoll Justice Gap Fund.
The State Bar initiated the IOLTA Program due to the lack of resources available for indigent clients who are in need of civil legal services. The substantial amount of money the program generates makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of these people to get the legal help that they need every year.
A 21-member Legal Services Trust Fund Commission appointed by the State Bar's Board of Trustees and the Chief Justice (on behalf of the Judicial Council of California) oversees the Trust Fund Program. Two-thirds of the commission members are attorneys and one-third are public members.
At least two of the 21 members must be "indigent persons" as defined by law. Three judges serve as non-voting advisors to the commission.
The Commission determines the eligibility of programs applying for funding, reviews recipients' budgets for compliance with the law, and monitors and evaluates the activities of programs receiving Trust Fund Program grants.
Yes. You must enter each course included in the package into the online summary log and provide a copy of any proof of completion it may have included (for example, a log and witness statement, if the MCLE bundle include them.)
No, that is entirely a gubernatorial prerogative.
Special Masters are volunteer attorneys who accompany peace officers in searches for documentary evidence in the possession of or under the control of attorneys, physicians, psychotherapists and clergy.
One of the first things the arbitrator will look at is whether there is a written fee agreement. If there is, the parties should submit a copy of the agreement to the arbitrator. In most instances, lawyers are required to use written fee agreements. If they do not, however, they are still entitled to a reasonable fee. The arbitrator will also consider the testimony of the parties, the billing statements, and other relevant evidence presented.
You may want to consider submitting any letter or documents that may support your claim. These include but are not limited to the lawyer’s billing statement, evidence of payments to the lawyer (e.g., copies of void checks), and any written fee agreements. Any other letters or documents that support your claim. You should have your documents organized in the order in which you plan to present them. Putting them in order by date is one common way to do this. You should also plan to have additional copies of the documents you intend to present so that you can give the copies to the arbitrator and the attorney whose fees you are disputing.
The award is the decision of the arbitrator and specifies whether you owe money to the lawyer, whether the lawyer owes money to you or whether neither of you owes any money.
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).)
No. E-learning courses can be completed on your schedule, at your own pace. Leave the course at any time and your progress will be saved until you return. Depending on the type of screen you are on when you exit, the course will resume at that point or at the beginning of the same section. Once you complete the course, you will be given access to a certificate that can be saved or printed to document course completion.
IMPORTANT: Upon returning to the course, you must answer “Yes” to the introductory question “Would you like to resume where you left off?” If you answer “No” to the introductory question, the course will be reset to the beginning and any record of your prior progress will be lost.
Yes. The State Bar New Attorney Training is not MCLE, however, new licensees can apply State Bar New Attorney Training hours to their MCLE requirement, provided that the hours are completed within the licensee’s MCLE compliance period. (Rule 2.142 of Title 2, Division 6, Chapter 1 of the Rules of the State Bar.)
By completing the entire New Attorney Training Program, you will complete 10 hours of MCLE credit, including 5.25 hours of legal ethics, 1.75 hours of general, 1 hours on competency, 1 hour on civility, and 1 hours on recognition and elimination of bias.
The title and the amount of credit offered by each course will depend on when the course was complete. See the table below.
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