This website is designed to educate the public about the FDRP.  This site contains information to assist clients and attorneys in making decisions about the program.  

The New York State Court System has established a Statewide Fee Dispute Resolution Program (FDRP) to resolve attorney-client disputes over legal fees through arbitration (and in some cases mediation).

In general, a lawyer may not sue a client in court over a fee dispute unless he or she first provided the client with notice of the right to utilize the FDRP.  Once the client has received this notice, he or she has  30 days to decide whether to use the FDRP. If the client doesn’t choose to participate in the FDRP within 30 days, the lawyer is free to pursue the matter in court.

Fee dispute resolution services are provided by local programs throughout New York.  To find out which local program has jurisdiction over your fee dispute first identify the county in which the majority of the legal services in the case were performed. This is usually (but not always) the county where the lawyer’s office is located.  Then click on the local program’s page and download the local program’s rules and forms there.

Please note that the FDRP’s jurisdiction is limited to resolving attorney-client disputes over legal fees.

The FDRP cannot address claims of lawyer misconduct.  In New York, the conduct of attorneys is governed by the Appellate Divisions of State Supreme Court and the Disciplinary and Grievance Committees appointed by the respective Appellate Division .  For more information on the Grievance Committees, click here.            

The FDRP cannot address claims of lawyer malpractice. If you are a client and you believe that your attorney committed malpractice in your case, you should not utilize the FDRP because it is possible that an arbitration decision against you with regard to the fee dispute could adversely affect your ability to pursue malpractice in court at a later date.

*Notice: Effective October 1, 2011. Pursuant to an order of the Administrative Board, the Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program has raised the panel threshold to $10,000 in the following four local programs.

The Joint Committee on Fee Disputes and Conciliation, housed at the New York County Lawyers’ Association, serving the 1st and 12th Judicial Districts (New York and Bronx Counties); the Third Judicial District Administrative Judge’s Office serving all counties in the 3rd Judicial District; the Bar Association of Erie County serving all counties within the 8th Judicial District; and the Tenth Judicial District Administrative Judge’s Office serving Nassau County. 

The threshold is effective for cases filed on or after October 1, 2011 and will be in effect until further notice.  All other local programs will continue to assemble panels where the amount in dispute is $6,000 or greater.