In Edelman v Poster ;  2010 NY Slip Op 00788 ;  Decided on February 4, 2010 ;  Appellate Division, First Department  we see a situation in which a matrimonial retainer agreement boldly stated a right to arbitrate, yet the Appellate Division, First Department, determined that client has no right to arbitrate.
 

Here is the retainer language:  "While I seek to avoid any disputes concerning the payment of our fee, in the event such a dispute does arise, you have the right, at your election, to seek arbitration, the results of which are binding on both parties. I shall advise you in writing by certified mail that you have 30 days from receipt of such notice in which to elect to resolve the dispute by arbitration, and I shall enclose a copy of the arbitration rules and a form for requesting arbitration. If no action is pending and if you do not timely enforce your rights to enter into fee arbitration, I may commence legal proceedings against you to recover any unpaid fee "

Here is how the First Department interpreted this language:

"Because we do not believe that the parties’ retainer agreements may be interpreted without reference to the matrimonial rules in effect at the time they were entered, which governed the attorney-client relationship in domestic relations matters with respect to fee disputes and arbitration, we reverse the grant of summary judgment in defendant’s favor and reinstate the complaint. A contrary result would do violence to the very rules we endeavor to enforce and penalize an attorney who complied in all respects with the matrimonial rules in effect at the time each retainer agreement was drafted and executed.

While these retainer agreements evidence a clear intent to give defendant the right to binding arbitration of fee disputes at her option, to be governed by arbitration rules to be provided by plaintiff, material terms are missing in that they do not specify what those rules are or identify the forum for the arbitration. However, there is no requirement that an agreement to arbitrate be encompassed in "a single comprehensive document" (5 NY Jur 2d, Arbitration and Award § 17, at 45-46; see also American States Ins. Co. v Sorrell, 258 AD2d 782, 783 [1999]), and where it is clear from the language of an agreement that the parties intended to be bound and there exists an objective method for supplying a missing term, the court should endeavor to hold the parties to their bargain (166 Mamaroneck Ave., 78 NY2d at 91; see also Cobble Hill Nursing Home v Henry & Warren Corp., 74 NY2d 475, 483 [1989] cert denied 498 US 816 [1990] [before rejecting an agreement as indefinite, a court must be satisfied that the agreement cannot be rendered reasonably certain by reference to an extrinsic standard that makes its meaning clear]; Marshall Granger & Co., CPA’s, P.C. v Sanossian & Sardis, LLP, 15 AD3d 631, 632 [2005]). "