Defense News.

ABA MDP Commission Floats New Proposal

A new and scaled-down version of a proposal to legitimate multidisciplinary practice has been offered by the American Bar Association Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice for consideration by the ABA House of Delegates in July.

In 1999, the commission proposed that the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct be amended to authorize fully integrated MDP--that is, forms of organization that might be controlled by non-lawyers as well as lawyers. The major rule to be amended is Rule 5.4, which states that a "lawyer or law firm shall not share fees with a nonlawyer," thus precluding persons who are not lawyers from becoming partners in or owning proprietary interests in law firms. This rule or its equivalent is in force in all U.S. jurisdictions with the exception of the District of Columbia, where nonlawyer partners are authorized if the sole purpose of the law firm is to provide legal services.

Proposal rejected

The ABA House of Delegates rejected the commission's 1999 proposal. The commission's new proposal would authorize only lawyer-controlled MDPs and emphasizes that core values of the legal profession must be maintained. The text of the proposal is:

RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association amend the Model Rules of Professional Conduct consistent with the following principles:

1. Lawyers should be permitted to share fees and join with nonlawyer professionals in a practice that delivers both legal and nonlegal professional services (multidisciplinary practice), provided that the lawyers have the control and authority necessary to assure lawyer independence in the rendering of legal services. "Nonlawyer professionals" means members of recognized professions or other disciplines that are governed by ethical standards.

2. This recommendation must be implemented in a manner that protects the public and preserves the core values of the legal profession, including competence, independence of professional judgment, protection of confidential client information, loyalty to the client through the avoidance of conflicts of interest, and pro bono publico obligations.

3. To protect the public interest, regulatory authorities should enforce existing rules and adopt such additional enforcement procedures as are needed to implement the principles identified in this Recommendation.

4. This recommendation does not alter the prohibition on nonlawyers delivering legal services and the obligations of all lawyers to...