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Ethics

: Legal Ethics Forum

England's proposals for alternative business structures (?ABS?) (= MDP)

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I just received an email from James Hutchinson of the Legal Services Board in London, stating as follows:

Please find attached a ?discussion paper? on ?Alternative Business Structures? which went out for consultation here in England. It was issued by us, the Legal Services Board: we are the new oversight regulator for the legal profession (a regulator of regulators might be the best way to explain our role).

The basic proposition of ?Alternative Business Structures? is to enable non-lawyers to own law firms, whilst guaranteeing that lawyers adhere to their professional principles (this is effected through a combination of detailed statutory requirements and strong regulation).

We are currently processing the responses to the attached discussion paper and, rather belatedly, thought that you might be interested in joining in the discussion to learn a little more about what is happening to the legal services market over here in the UK.

We would be interested in any views you may have on this paper ? obviously, the consultation is now closed, but it would be good to benefit from your insights/suggestions in any event.

I look forward to hearing from you,

You can download the attached 60-page discussion paper here (Download RM 5.5 England LSB MDP proposal 2009), and you can comment by emailing to consultations@LegalServicesBoard.org.uk or by calling Mr. Hutchison at 0207 271 0061. The report says that the consultation closed on "14 August 2009," but obviously the Legal Services Board is interested enough in knowledgeable opinions from U.S. lawyers and professors to welcome our comments even though the formal deadline has passed.

I wonder why MDP proposals should fare any better in England than they did in the ABA House of Delegates in 2000 and 2001, when proposals by the ABA's Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice were roundly defeated. However, as the report points out in para. 1.6: "[W]e have moved beyond the debate about whether to open up the market to ABS. That was settled when the Legal Services Act 2007 (?The Act?) was passed by Parliament. Instead, this paper sets out plans for when and how the market will be opened." Still, that begs the question. Why did Parliament approve ABS/MDP structures in England while Congress (and the states) have shown no inclination to so in the U.S.? Are we different? Or are we just wrong?

Full post as published by Legal Ethics Forum on August 20, 2009 (boomark / email).