No. By law, mandatory fee arbitration cannot help you recover damages or offset expenses incurred for the attorney’s misconduct or malpractice. If the arbitrator determines that the attorney’s malpractice or professional misconduct reduced the value of legal services provided, the arbitrator can reduce the attorney’s fees.

If you think you have a separate claim for legal malpractice, you should discuss your rights with an independent lawyer. However, if you file a lawsuit for malpractice or seek court resolution of the fee dispute after receipt of the Notice of Client’s Right to Fee Arbitration, you waive your right to pursue mandatory fee arbitration.

The Mandatory Fee Arbitration Program does not have the authority 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 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.

The State Bar's pamphlet, "If You Have a Problem with an Attorney," may be helpful in deciding whether to file a complaint.

Using Zoom software, providers can track the time at which attendees log in and log out of each session. It is also acceptable to use codes or pop-up verification windows throughout the virtual presentation as methods of verifying attendance.

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.

If you do not file the request form with the program within 30 days, 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 completely filled out and that you have included any filing fee that may be required.

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.

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 program is generally designed for a client to be able to require their attorney to participate in fee arbitration. However, an attorney may require the client to participate if the client and attorney have a signed agreement to submit fee disputes to a mandatory fee arbitration program. In general, binding arbitration agreements are not enforceable if they were entered into before the dispute arose.

PowerPoint presentations that include substantive written information relevant to the MCLE activity and discuss the content and/or legal authorities discussed during the MCLE activity may qualify as written materials. PowerPoint presentations consisting primarily of pictures and a few pages of large text do not qualify.

Yes, provided that the forms contain the required information as outlined in the MCLE Provider Rules.

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.

Prerecorded programs only qualify for self-study MCLE credit if the provider is able to verify attendance. If this is the case, then the prerecorded program may be eligible for participatory MCLE credit.

No. A Certificate of Attendance cannot be issued until the MCLE program has been approved by the State Bar.