Legal Business

Why are there no lawyer-backed MDPs?

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With the rise of multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) receiving daily comment in the professional news, this is certainly a question worth asking.

Before adding my own observations to the debate, I should spell out what I am thinking about and what I am not.

For starters, I appreciate that much work of many solicitors’ firms in England and Wales falls outside the reserved areas. As a result, there is a sense in which many law firms are already MDPs. Similarly, I am not thinking about those alternative business structures (ABSs) that, in the course of providing retail legal services, offer ancillary, non-legal services, such as car hire, medical reports, etc.