Washington, DC—Today the nation's first comprehensive study of the out-of-court programs that resolve lawyer-client fee disputes ranked Colorado's fee arbitration system 38th in the nation, issuing the state's system a D-minus. To spur reform of these important but under-utilized forums, legal consumer watchdog group HALT — An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform released its 2007 Fee Arbitration Report Card, ranking programs in all 50 states and D.C.

"The most pervasive complaint about lawyers is that their fees are too high for the work done," stated HALT Senior Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder. "Colorado has a program that's meant to help clients and lawyers resolve everyday fee disputes, but unfortunately the state's rules allow lawyers to reject a client's request to settle the conflict through arbitration—forcing many consumers to take their cases to court."

Fee arbitration programs are run by both the Colorado Bar Association and the Denver Bar Association's Fee Arbitration Committee. "With different agencies operating under inconsistent rules, it's no wonder that Coloradans often report confusion about the fee arbitration system," stated Blonder. "The state's program would be more effective if it were housed under one roof."

In addition, both the Bar Association and the Fee Arbitration Committee do not use any formal methods to enforce arbitration awards against attorneys, whereas bar associations in other states automatically suspend lawyers if they unreasonably delay compliance with an arbitrator's decision.

The top five states—D.C., Maine, New Jersey, New York and California—scored no higher than a B average. Three states—New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia—flunked. Another eight received Incompletes because they do not offer statewide systems to settle lawyer-client fee disputes.

"In an era of skyrocketing lawyer fees, we hope Georgia officials will reform the state's fee arbitration program because all Americans should be able to challenge a lawyer's bill in a low-cost, efficient forum," stated Blonder.