Originally from:

Journal of American Arbitration (JAA) - Vol. 3, No. 2

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ARTICLES

Fighting Over the Carcass of a Fee: The Ohio
Supreme Court Holds that Attorneys Must
Settle Fee Disputes Through Mediation or
Arbitration in Shimko v. Lobe
By Allison Ward
 

I. OVERVIEW
Timothy A. Shimko and Thomas G. Lobe are both attorneys and
admitted to practice law in Ohio.1 They entered into an oral agreement
with respect “to the division of legal fees for litigation in California.”2
The terms of the oral fee-sharing agreement were at the center of this
dispute.3 Lobe wrote to the Cleveland Bar Association (CBA) in
September 1995, requesting that his fee dispute with Shimko be “‘set
down for mandatory and binding Arbitration.’”4 This was the required
course of action under the Bylaws and Rules of the Division of Fee
Mediation and Arbitration Committee (Committee), which were
designed to implement DR 2-107(B) of Ohio’s Code of Professional
Responsibility.5 DR 2-107(B) reads:
In cases of dispute between lawyers arising under this rule, fees
shall be divided in accordance with mediation or arbitration
provided by a local bar association. Disputes that cannot be