ABA president declares: multi-disciplinary practices are bound to come

PARTNERSHIPS: Law Society of Scotland upholds MDPs ban

It is 'inevitable' that the ABA will eventually allow multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDPs), its in-coming president, Martha Barnett, said last week.The declaration came before the Law Society of Scotland reaffirmed its policy against MDPs after more than three years of debate.

Speaking in the wake of the ABA's decision to retain its ban on MDPs (see [2000] Gazette, 13 July, 8), Ms Barnett told the Gazette that 'MDPs in some form are inevitable in the new economy'.'Even in light of the vote last week, the debate is far from over,' she said, 'We must maintain our core values but accommodate the dramatic changes in the world.

The world is going to change with or without us.' Many lawyers working outside law firms are already providing legal services of some sort, she said.Alastair Thornton, president of the Law Society of Scotland, said his society backed the existing ban on the grounds that MDPs 'pose serious risks of harm' to the public interest.

'The profession indicated that the principles of independence, confidentiality, client privilege and the avoidance of conflict of interest are of supreme importance to the public and must not be compromised,' he said.However, the society's MDP working party did open the way to solicitors and non-solicitors sharing premises, computers and other IT, and even administrative and secretarial staff: 'So long as it is clear to the client at all times the nature, qualifications and function of the individual professional adviser with whom he is dealing, we see no difficulty in solicitors sharing.'

Neil Rose