Washington Lawyer - March/April 2025 - 30

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H
SPECIAL SECTION
D.C. BAR'S
ACAB
O
Service Powered by
Volunteer Arbitrators
By John Murph
ne day in December 2024,
Maryam Hatcher and two
other volunteer attorneys
spent hours arbitrating a
nearly $100,000 fee dispute between
a client and a law firm.
ACAB volunteer arbitrators Maryam Hatcher and Andrew Marks.
Working without pay to comb through the parties' filings and hear their
arguments, they demonstrated the kind of commitment that volunteer
arbitrators bring to the D.C. Bar's Attorney/Client Arbitration Board (ACAB),
a confidential, cost-effective adjudication service available to Bar members
and their clients for faster resolution of disputes over legal fees.
Many of these disputes involve complex issues, prehearing motions, and
multiple parties, occasionally resulting in multiday hearings. " In addition
to addressing the issues at hand, arbitrators often have to manage high
emotions in these types of matters, " says Hatcher, senior counsel for corporate
sustainability at Mars, Inc.
ACCESSIBLE FORUM
Voluntary fee arbitration with the D.C. Bar was conceived in 1982. With
the adoption of Rule XIII of the Rules Governing the District of Columbia
Bar on January 1, 1995, fee arbitration through ACAB became mandatory
for Bar members if requested by a current or former client. The establishment
of mandatory fee arbitration was born out of a recommendation
from the D.C. Bar's Disciplinary System Review Committee after studying
the ABA's " McKay Commission Report, " which made " specific recommendations
for improvement in lawyer discipline in the United States and . . .
to include a more comprehensive system for resolving disputes and
problems arising from the lawyer-client relationship. "
" We are in a minority of jurisdictions that have mandatory fee arbitration.
When Rule XIII was adopted, it was a critical step in client protection, but
it also put the D.C. Bar ahead of most bars in the quality and availability
of fee arbitration options for our members, " says Kathleen Lewis, associ30
WASHINGTON LAWYER
* MARCH/APRIL 2025
ate director of the Bar's Attorney/Client Relations Program. " We have
professional staff, we have mechanisms to compel both lawyers and
clients to arbitrate fee disputes, and our arbitration decisions are final
and binding. "
" Additionally, the program is accessible not only in terms of cost but
[also] in the reduced formality, which allows parties to present their issues
without strict adherence to the rules of evidence. The arbitrators are
generally more focused on the substance of the dispute rather than the
technicalities of how evidence is presented, " Lewis adds.
ACAB's lawyer and nonlawyer arbitrators are keenly aware that they are
resolving disputes that arise from the unique relationship between a
lawyer and a client. " I am deeply grateful for the dedicated service and
commitment of the arbitrators who generously volunteer their time and
expertise. Their impartiality, professionalism, and tireless efforts help ensure
fairness and access to justice for all involved, " Lewis says. " Through
their invaluable contributions, they play a vital role in maintaining the integrity
and efficacy of the legal system. "
SUPERIOR SOLUTION
Private arbitration forums can be cost-prohibitive, even for lawyers, Lewis
says, but with ACAB, typically a party is only paying $25 to $100 to file a
dispute. " And that's their total cost; we don't have other charges along
the way, " Lewis says.
The key to this is ACAB's use of volunteer arbitrators. ACAB's volunteer
pool consists of 87 arbitrators, a number of whom have been volunteering
for decades. Among them is Andrew H. Marks, managing director of
John Murph
Washington Lawyer - March/April 2025

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