An amended report from the ABA's Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice (MDP), issued on May 12, said that lawyers should be able to enter into fee-sharing arrangements with other professionals and offer integrated services in areas such as estate and financial planning, establishment of small businesses, and home purchase. Existing rules governing lawyers' conduct bars attorneys from entering such cooperative arrangements, creating additional expense, confusion and effort for consumers.

"The Bar Association's archaic rules, offered in the guise of legal ethics, are really about protecting law firms' economic interests," said Don Rounds, President of The Consumer Alliance. "After almost two years of investigation and hearings, a panel composed of leading members of the U.S. legal profession has urged its colleagues to expand consumers' choices by allowing lawyers to enter into cooperative service arrangements. It's now up to the rest of the legal profession to show it can open its minds to the 21st century. We urge the ABA House of Delegates to take the first step in that direction and support consumer needs by endorsing the Commission's recommendations."

Report at Odds With State Bars
In an earlier version of its report presented to the ABA House of Delegates last summer, the Commission said MDPs should be allowed in limited circumstances, but it opposed fee sharing. It also said that MDPs were only acceptable if lawyers retained majority ownership and control of the integrated practices. Even that modest break with past practice attracted significant resistance and its supporters did not submit it for a vote.

"This revised report is an improvement from the standpoint of consumers," said TCA's Rounds, who organized the consumer statement. "But it will have little value until it is embraced throughout the profession and becomes codified at the state level."

But the state bar associations, which govern attorneys in their respective states, have for the most part expressed steadfast opposition to the concept of MDPs, and have instead promised aggressive action to stop any encroachment onto lawyers' turf. These state bars reject completely the extensive study and recommendations of the ABA Commission, which heard testimony from 95 witnesses, received written comments from 120 interested parties and groups, held nine days of open hearings, and met an additional 10 times in executive session. After weighing the considerable record before it, the ABA Commission soundly concluded that there is substantial evidence that consumers want the MDP option and that allowing MDPs is the right thing for lawyers and for the public. However, many state bars continue to insist that there is no evidence of consumer demand and that allowing MDPs will mean the end of the legal profession.

Consumer Groups Concerned by Panel's Call for Delay
The 36 consumer groups that joined Rounds in applauding the ABA panel said they were disappointed that the Commission suggested that the ABA put off consideration of its recommendations until February 2001. The issue is currently on the agenda for the ABA's July 2000 meeting.

"A diverse panel, acting in good faith, has listened to the voice of consumers and agreed that legal and other professionals should be able to organize in new ways to serve client needs," said Lora Weber, President of Consumers Alliance of the South East (CASE). " But too many state bar associations seem wedded to their entrenched power. Until they also open their minds to change, American consumers will continue to suffer from the lack of integrated services that are now increasingly common in Australia and Europe."

Current Rules Deny Access to Needed Services
The consumer groups, which previously expressed their position in an April letter to the MDP Commission, said current rules "threaten to deny consumers access to existing legal services," and are thoroughly anti-consumer. The signers represent national, state, and regional organizations, and include advocates for minorities, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

James Brown, Director of the Center for Consumer Affairs at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, explained, for example, that a senior citizen may need help with estate and tax planning, financial arrangements for children and grandchildren, and health and long-term care issues - requiring assistance from a variety of professional experts.

"Because of the legal profession's rules, seniors have to troop from professional to professional and resolve the complex, overlapping and possibly conflicting counsel themselves. They should have the choice of getting this help in a single office from a unified team of professionals who offer an integrated solution to their issues," Brown said.

In that letter, they expressed the following concerns about the ban on multidisciplinary practices:

• Consumers want more choices. MDPs mean "more consumers will be able to satisfy unmet legal needs - such as will preparation or estate planning."
  
• Few problems in society are strictly legal in nature. Average consumers are hard pressed to find the time and money to access all the professionals required for activities such as setting up a small business, purchasing a home, arranging care for an older relative, or settling an estate - or sort out the often conflicting information they receive from these separate entities.
  
• As society is changing, so must consumers' ability to seek professional help. "One-stop shopping" is a concept that has permeated many other facets of American life because it offers consumers a time- and cost-efficient option for addressing complex needs. The refusal to allow consumers this choice is simply a fortification of the legal guild rather than a necessary recognition of changing times and changing consumer needs.
  

The Consumer Alliance, founded by Don Rounds in 1993, is a broad-based, national coalition of dozens of consumer, senior, minority, employee, low-income and small business organizations that provides a unified voice on issues affecting ordinary consumers. TCA plays an important role in educating and communicating with policymakers at the local, state and federal level on a wide variety of issues.

Don Rounds, President The Consumer Alliance	Mark Phigler, President Americans for Competitive Telecommunications
James L. Brown, Director Center for Consumer Affairs University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	David A. Swankin, President Citizen Advocacy Center
Lora H. Weber, President Consumers Alliance of the Southeast	Al Sterman, Secretary-Treasurer Democratic Processes Center
Jim Conran, President Consumers First	Ken Benner, President American Council on Consumer Awareness
Theodore Debro, Board Chairman Consumers for Affordable and Reliable Services of Alabama	Florence M. Rice, President Harlem Consumer Education Council
Wayne Moore, Director Legal Advocacy Group American Association of Retired Persons	Ira Schoenholtz, President American Association of Business Persons with Disabilities
Ernest Wm. Bach, Executive Director Florida Action Coalition Team	Michael Rulison, President North Carolina Consumers Council
Dorothy Garrick, President Columbia Consumer Education Council	Esther K. Shapiro, former Director Detroit Consumers Affairs
Ellen M. DeWind, Director Niagara Frontier Consumers Association	Barbara Olivas, President Hispanic Education Foundation, American GI Forum of the US
Manuel Oliverez, President National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives	Niel Ritchie, Director Minnesotans For Safe Foods
Fab Torrez, Board Member Community Action Council	Helen Ewing Nelson, President Consumer Research Foundation
Phyllis G. Rowe, President Arizona Consumers Council	Jeff Schuman, Executive Director Deep Fork Community Action
Mary Horne Odom, Chairman North Carolina Consumers for Affordable Electricity	Rob Mayer, Professor Family and Consumer Studies University of Utah
Dan McCurry, Coordinator Chicago Consumer Coalition	Anne Werner, Executive Director United Seniors Health Cooperative
Louis S. Meyer, President Pennsylvania Citizens Consumer Council	Jane Poertner, Executive Director Central Illinois Economic Development Corporation
Jude Filler, Executive Director Texas Alliance for Human Needs	Felicia Banks, Consumer Director Shisa, Inc.
Regene Mitchell, Vice President Consumer Federation of California	Velma Montoya, President National Council of Hispanic Women
Henry Clay White, Treasurer Wisconsin Consumers League	Virginia Jarrow, President Consumer Coalition of California
Anni Chung, Executive Director Self-Help for the Elderly