The State Bar has programs and information to assist you with legal fees.

They include:

Sample Fee Agreements
Sample language you may consider in drafting an agreement with a client.

Fee Arbitration Program
A free service designed to resolve fee disputes between lawyers and clients and also fee disputes among attorneys.

Client Protection Fund
The Client Protection Fund of the State Bar of Arizona may be able to help clients recover money they have lost due to their lawyer's dishonest conduct.

Economics of Law Practice in Arizona Report
This State Bar report contains information about attorney billing rates, salaries and much more.

Fee Arbitration
Fee disputes between lawyers and clients can be arbitrated at no cost to the parties. This is a free, voluntary program where an arbitrator is assigned to determine what the reasonable fees should be for the legal services that were performed.

Participation is voluntary but if both parties agree to arbitrate the fee dispute, the parties will be bound by the award. Fee Arbitration is only available if there is no litigation pending to resolve the fee dispute. If you or your client have a fee dispute of $500 or more, contact the State Bar for assistance at 602-340-7288 or 602-340-7379. Or you may download the Fee Arbitration Rules and Forms here.

Client Protection Fund
The Client Protection Fund of the State Bar of Arizona may be able to help clients recover money they have lost due to their lawyer's dishonest conduct. Payments from the Fund are in the sole discretion of the Board of Trustees as there is no entitlement to compensation from this charitable Fund.

“Dishonest Conduct” means theft, conversion, embezzlement or retaining unearned fees when no work was performed.

The Fund does not cover claims of malpractice, negligence, fee disputes or investments made with an attorney. The Trustees of the Fund will not consider claims including damages, interest or fees paid to other lawyers; the Trustees may only consider the amount of money that a client alleges a lawyer owes the client. The loss must have occurred as part of either an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship with a lawyer within the past five years. Claimants must have exhausted all other reasonable methods of recovery before making a claim with the Fund . Reimbursement is limited to $100,000 per claimant and $200,000 per attorney. Effective June 1, 2009, the amount that can be paid in claims against one attorney will be increased to $250,000.

If you are interested in more information about the Fund, please contact the Client Protection Fund Administrator at 602-340-7286, or you may download the Client Protection Fund forms.