(a) Authority to Adopt. The Chief Judge shall develop and adopt maximum hourly rate fee schedules for court-designated individuals conducting mediation or settlement conference proceedings. In developing the fee schedules, the Chief Judge shall take into account the availability of qualified individuals willing to provide those services and the ability of litigants to pay for them.

(b) Applicability of Fee Schedules. The fee schedules adopted by the Chief Judge apply only to an individual designated by the court to conduct a mediation or settlement conference and not to an individual selected by the parties.

(c) Compliance. A court-designated individual conducting mediation or settlement conference proceedings subject to a fee schedule may not charge or accept a fee for that service in excess of that allowed under the fee schedule. A violation of this Rule shall be cause for removal of the individual from the lists.

Source: This Rule is new.