FOR YOUR PRACTICE | MEDIATION
Is a Fee Increase on the Way for Court-Referred Mediators? BY DOUGLAS FURLONG, ESQ. AND CAMPBELL KILLEFER, ESQ.
HOW MANY INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE
involved in Maryland’s judicial system have received no increase in billing rates over the past 20 years? Judges and court personnel in the circuit courts have benefited from salary increases. Private attorneys who practice in the circuit courts have increased their hourly fees and income over the past 20 years. Essentially, all individuals and corporate representatives involved as parties in civil litigation have also received increases in income. The surprising answer is that only court-referred mediators in civil, non-domestic cases have received no hourly fee increase in 20 years. Those mediators are still limited to the $200/hour rate set in 2005. There is now a movement underway to increase the fees under Title 17 that circuit courts may permit mediators to charge for their services. Background
This article was originally published in the MSBA ADR Section's spring 2026 newsletter.
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MSBA.ORG | VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1
The MSBA Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Section Council (the ADR section council) established a committee to study the amount of mediator fees that should be authorized for non-domestic civil case mediations ordered by Maryland circuit courts pursuant