Bar Council blasts MDPs

The prospect of a legal landscape dominated by several 'large and unwieldy' law firms is causing concern over competitiveness, the Bar Council said this week in response to an inquiry into competition among the professions.

In its response to the Office for Fair Trading's inquiry, the Bar voiced strong opposition to multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDPs) on the grounds that MDPs would restrict access to barristers' services.

The Bar also said MDPs would threaten legal professional privilege and the duty of confidentiality.

Elsewhere in its response to the inquiry, the Bar Council argued that there are no unfair restrictions on entry to the profession.

The Bar Council chairman, Jonathan Hirst QC, said: 'This is a robust submission.

Few people realise the extent to which the Bar's practices have been liberalised over the past decade.

This document sets the record straight.'

In relation to the Bar Council's comment about unwieldy law firms, a spokeswoman for the Law Society said: 'We are looking for ways for MDPs to work while ensuring that clients get a fully independent and ethical service from their solicitors.'

Alison Crawley, head of professional ethics at the Law Society, said the Chancery Lane's response to the OFT inquiry, published this summer, had indicated that the solicitors' profession was addressing, or had already addressed, most of the areas that might be of concern.

Specifically, she said that the MDPs working party, set up by the Law Society, was seeking ways that the professions could work together to achieve best value for their clients.

Jeremy Fleming