Officially Speaking

The Legal Profession at a Crossroads

These days, it is easy to focus on issues that affect us most as law students. Yet in just a short time, most of us will be lawyers, and our attention will shift to larger issues affecting the profession.

As chair of the Law Student Division, I have the opportunity to present the views of law students to the leadership of the American Bar Association and, in turn, to hear what those leaders are saying.

The top priority of ABA president William Paul is diversity in the legal profession. A major initiative is the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which is expected to award $5,000 annually to individual law students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. An award made to a first-year law student may be renewable for each year, resulting in potential financial assistance totaling $15,000 during the three years of law school. So far, the fund has raised more than $750,000, with the hopes of reaching $1 million.

“We can best serve society if members of the legal profession come from all segments of the population, reflecting the diversity of the United States-and financial aid during law school must be a vital component of any effort to increase diversity in the profession,” says Paul, who also has directed the ABA to research and make recommendations about the low number of minority judicial law clerks.

Another item on Paul’s agenda is the delivery of legal services to those of low to moderate means. He correctly believes that technology has the ability to make legal services available through better access and reduced cost. An ABA task force is considering this issue throughout the year with the goal of disseminating information about how to make this a reality.

An item that is not on the president’s agenda, but one that he and the entire Association cannot avoid addressing, is multidisciplinary practice. More commonly known as MDP, it can generally be defined as the delivery of legal and other professional services to a client by a single company or similar entity. I believe the resolution of this issue will determine what the legal profession will look like throughout our professional lives.

Those in favor of allowing MDPs believe there should be access to one-stop shopping, where professionals from different disciplines (such as lawyers and accountants, for instance) work together to solve their clients’ common problems. Proponents argue that one-stop shopping is cheaper and more convenient, and that problems of conflicts of interest and of confidentiality can be safeguarded by changes in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

MDP opponents argue that such arrangements threaten lawyers’ independent judgment and will compromise their duties of confidentiality and client loyalty. If non-lawyers can share fees with lawyers, the argument goes, then they will soon be able to exert power and control over lawyers. Critics of MDPs also talk about potential problems such as unauthorized practice of law, elimination of pro bono services because they do not generate revenue, and conflicts of interest.

There are more arguments on both sides of the MDP issue, which I encourage you to learn more about by visiting the ABA’s web site at www.abanet.org/cpr/multicom.html.

The legal profession is at a crossroads of issues that are critical to its future. The ABA not only serves as a forum to discuss these issues, but it also provides leadership in each of them. It is what the ABA has been doing since 1878 and what it continues to do as the national representative of the legal profession.

 

Kyle V. Mitchell

Chair, ABALaw Student Division