FEE DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM
The New York State Court System has a Statewide Fee Dispute Resolution Program (FDRP) to resolve disputes over fees between attorneys and clients.
In general, a lawyer may not sue a client in court over a fee dispute unless he or she first gave the client notice of the right to use the FDRP. Once the client has received this notice, the client has 30 days to decide whether to use the FDRP. If the client doesn’t send in the completed Client Request for Fee Arbitration form to the local program within 30 days, the lawyer is free to pursue the matter in court.
The program is voluntary for the client to use unless the client and attorney agreed ahead of time to use the FDRP if they had a fee dispute. The FDRP accepts cases where the attorney claims that the client owes money and where the client claims he or she is entitled to a refund.