Do you want your kids working for an L.M.O. owned by a C.P.A.?

• Author: Coker, Howard C.
• Position: Legal managed care - Editorial

You may recall my November column discussing the growing trend among law firms to expand their services to compete with accounting firms and others encroaching into what traditionally has been considered the practice of law. I said then, and reiterate now, that this can be a slippery slope -- that by expanding the services we offer we may inadvertently arm our adversaries with an argument against requiring Bar admission for, and Supreme Court regulation of, the practice of law; that we may well threaten the independence of our profession.

In launching this discussion I made the obvious point that the independence of our profession is predicated upon our being held to extremely arduous ethical standards. When we as lawyers enter into areas beyond practicing law, we implicate ethical guidelines covering conflicts of interest, confidentiality, solicitation, disclosure requirements, unauthorized fee-splitting, and supervisory responsibilities over support staff, to name but a few potential problem areas.

I believe these to be extremely important issues for all lawyers as we enter the new millennium. Are we going to follow Europe in blurring to a point of near-obliteration the line between being an independent profession owing its duty to the public and a mere business enterprise owing its only allegiance to the bottom line? I hope not. Personally, I don't want my kids working for a legal maintenance organization that is a wholly owned Arthur-Andersen subsidiary.

Finding our correct course requires bringing as many minds as possible to bear on the problem. That is why I named a special committee to begin considering the many complex issues presented, and asked the chair of the study panel, Martin Garcia of Tampa, to outline and lead the discussion at our annual All-Bar Conference. In addition to the conference delegates from voluntary bars and practice sections of The Florida Bar, we for the first time invited any Bar member caring to participate in the discussion to air his or her views. It made for a lively day, I assure you.

After some excellent presentations by committee members and the experts they had assembled specifically for the All-Bar, as well as some thought-provoking questions...