Montgomery County, PA

Oath

(a)

(1)      The Court shall appoint a person to act as Arbitration

Administrator who shall serve at the discretion of the Court and

under the supervision and jurisdiction of the Court.

(2)      Each active member of the bar of this Court who maintains

          his/her principal office within Montgomery County, shall file with

          the Arbitration Administrator information indicating whether said

          member is a sole practitioner, is a member of a firm or is

          associated with one or more lawyers. Upon any change in the

          member’s status of practicing with or being associated with any

          other lawyer, said member shall immediately report such change

          to the Arbitration Administrator.

(3)      The Arbitration Administrator shall keep on file all papers

          pertaining to proceedings in arbitration cases until the same are

          concluded, shall keep the arbitration list up to date, shall

          prepare and furnish to the Prothonotary and keep up to date a

          list of the members of the bar qualified to act, which list shall

          be confidential.

  The Arbitration Administrator shall send a letter to all members of

  the Montgomery Bar Association within sixty (60) days after their

  admission to the bar of his or her right to accept an assignment

  of Arbitrator by sending, in writing, a statement of his or her

  intention to so act, which notice shall be directed to the

  Arbitration Administrator.  The Arbitration Administrator shall

  advise the members of the bar that appointment as an Arbitrator

  shall have the same force and effect as a Court commitment.

(b)

(1)      Upon the filing of a praecipe signed by all counsel, with notice

to opposing counsel and any unrepresented parties, the

Arbitration Administrator shall select the Board of Arbitrators,

consisting of three (3) members of the Bar of this Court from

the list of attorneys qualified to serve as follows:

(a)      The Arbitration Administrator shall select three attorneys

from said list, two of whom shall have been admitted to

the practice of law for at least eight years. The attorney

with the lowest “attorney identification number” shall

serve as chairperson of the panel.

(b)      Upon the request of any party in writing filed within ten

(10) days of the filing of the praecipe for arbitration with

notice to opposing counsel, the Arbitration Administrator

shall nominate five attorneys from said list, three of

whom shall have been admitted to the practice of law for

at least eight years. For each additional party with an

adverse interest, the Arbitration Administrator shall

nominate an additional attorney who has been admitted

to the practice of law for at least eight years. Each party

shall then have the right to strike one attorney so

nominated by notifying the Arbitration Administrator in

writing within ten (10) days of the date of mailing of the

list of nominations by the Arbitration Administrator. The

three remaining attorneys or the first three named on the

list, if one or more strikes are not exercised, shall serve

on the panel with the senior attorney to act as chairman.

(c)      In the event of the disqualification or failure to act of an

appointed attorney, the Arbitration Administrator, in all

cases in which the panel was selected under (a) above,

shall appoint a similarly qualified and available attorney in

his/her place. In all cases in which the panel was selected

under (b) above, the Arbitration Administrator shall

nominate three similarly qualified and available attorneys

with an additional attorney for each additional party with

an adverse interest provided that there is sufficient time

in which to do so. Each party shall strike as above one

attorney so nominated and the remaining attorney shall

be appointed to the panel.

(d)      An adverse party may raise an objection as to whether

          the matter is arbitrable under these rules or as to the

          composition of the panel selected under (b) above by

          notifying the Arbitration Administrator in writing with

          notice to opposing counsel within ten (10) days of the

          filing of the praecipe or the mailing of notice of the

          composition of the panel. The Court shall decide such

          objections before the matter is heard by the Board on

          the merits.

(e)      If any counsel refuses to sign the praecipe for arbitration,

any party may request a conference before the

designated Judge on the case in order to determine

whether the case should be place on the arbitration list

and scheduled for hearing.

(f)      Each member of a Board of Arbitrators who has signed a

report or dissented shall receive as compensation for

services in each case a fee of one hundred dollars

($100).  When more than one case arising out of the

same transaction is heard at the same hearing or

hearings, it shall be considered as one case insofar as

compensation of the Arbitrators is concerned. In civil

action, where no appearance has been entered for the

defendant and there is no contest, the compensation of

each of the Arbitrators shall be in the sum of twenty-

five dollars ($25) per case. However, the Administrator,

in his discretion, may assign more than one such case to

a particular Board. In cases requiring hearings of unusual

duration or involving questions of unusual complexity, the

Court, on petition of the members of the Board and for

cause shown, may allow additional compensation. The

Court may also, on petition of any party to a case, on

cause shown and to prevent injustice, reduce the amount

of such compensation or disallow compensation entirely.

The members of a Board shall not be entitled to receive

their fees until after filing a report with the Prothonotary.

When the same is filed, the Prothonotary shall issue an

order for payment of such fees which shall be immediately

paid from county funds as in the case of all other county

debts. In the event that a case shall be settled or

withdrawn or otherwise terminated by or between the

parties at least one full weekday before the date of the

hearing, the Board members shall not be entitled to the

aforesaid fee.