Fee statements mailed to all lawyers Nov. 15
Pay by Feb. 1 to avoid a penalty
State Bar fee statements for 2007 were mailed Nov. 15 to all California attorneys,
and all fees must be paid online or postmarked by the statutory due date of
Feb. 1.
Beginning on Feb. 2, late payments will be assessed a $100 late fee for active
attorneys and $30 for inactive members. Members of Group 1 (last names beginning
with letters A-G) also must submit their MCLE compliance cards online or make
sure they are postmarked by Feb. 1. Group 1 members who miss that compliance
date will be assessed a $75 late compliance fee beginning on Feb. 2.
To help lawyers pay on time, the bar also is waiving all bank fees for online
payments. Last year, the charge to members was $5, with the bar picking up
the rest of the bank fee. This year, there is no fee to members for paying
online and the bar will pick up all of the bank charge.
Historically, more than 70 percent of the bar's members — last year,
140,000 — have paid their fees on time by the statutory dues deadline
of Feb. 1. The board previously granted a 45-day extension for the 65,000 attorneys
who paid late; however, because of the extensive cost to the bar to collect
dues from the remaining 30 percent — many of whom repeatedly pay late,
and in many cases at the very last minute before suspension by the Supreme
Court — the bar's board of governors voted last summer to eliminate the
extension.
In the past, third and fourth mailings also were subsequently sent to delinquent
dues payers, with a statutory "Final Delinquent Notice" included in the fourth
mailing. The board must wait 60 days following the final mailing before it
can act to have the Supreme Court administratively suspend the attorneys who
haven't paid. That means lawyers in arrears have not been placed on administrative
suspension until mid-September.
In addition to enforcing the statutory deadline, the bar will assess every
lawyer who ultimately is suspended for non-payment of fees a $100 reinstatement
fee before being allowed to practice law again. Those suspended for failure
to comply with MCLE requirements will have to pay a $200 reinstatement fee.
The 2007 fee for active lawyers is $400; for inactive lawyers, the annual
fee is $125. Attorneys who change their status from active to inactive must
file the change form with the bar and pay their dues by Feb. 1 to be eligible
for the inactive fee for 2007. The annual fee is waived for inactive lawyers
70 years or older.
Lawyers can deduct $5 for the bar's lobbying activities and $5 for elimination
of bias programs. Members eligible to scale dues and who pay by Feb. 1 are
entitled to a 25 percent reduction in their fees.
The fee statement also will offer the option of joining one or more of the
bar's sections as well as making donations to the Foundation of the State Bar,
the Conference of Dele-gates of California Bar Associations and the California
Supreme Court Historical Society.
Lawyers in Compliance Group 1 (last names A-G) must complete 25 hours of continuing
education. Up to half the hours may be self-study through an approved provider
and the remainder must be participatory. The requirements include four hours
of ethics instruction, one hour of elimination of bias and an hour of detection/prevention
of substance abuse. California Bar Journal self-study tests are available at
the bar's Web site, calbar.ca.gov.
Complete information about MCLE requirements is available at the Web site
by clicking on MCLE in the right-hand menu.
Compliance may be submitted electronically through the My State Bar Profile
feature on the bar's Web site.
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