SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT APPROVES
INCREASES IN ANNUAL
ATTORNEY REGISTRATION FEES
The
Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court recently approved
a request of the Board of Bar Overseers for increases in
annual registration fees for attorneys, effective on September
1, 2006. This is the first time in eight years that the
Board of Bar Overseers has sought an increase in lawyers’ annual
registration fees. The last fee increase became effective
on September 1, 1998.
Registration
fees cover the operating expenses of the Board of Bar Overseers
and Office of Bar Counsel, the Clients’ Security
Board, and Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. The Board of
Bar Overseers cited administrative costs, including funding
for enhancement of the Attorney and Consumer Assistance
Program, for creation of a new Law Office Management Assistance
Program, and for increasing obligations of the Clients’ Security
Board, as the major factors for the fee increases. The
Clients’ Security Board reimburses clients who have
sustained a financial loss caused by lawyer theft.
The
new registration fees for attorneys are, as follows:
| Registration
Fee Schedule, effective September 1, 2006 |
|
| Category |
Amount |
|
| |
|
|
| Active – five years or fewer |
$220.00 |
|
| Active – more than five to fifty
years |
$300.00 |
|
| Active – more than fifty years |
$20.00 |
|
| |
|
|
| Inactive – five years or fewer |
$110.00 |
|
| Inactive – more than five to
fifty years |
$150.00 |
|
| Inactive – more than fifty years |
$10.00 |
|
The
order pertaining to Rule 4:03 may be found on the court's intranet
site  or
accessed on the Internet at www.state.ma.us/courts/rule403.pdf.
|
