On May 2, the UK proposed a draft bill that will allow law firms to partner with other business services firms like accountants, private equity firms, banks, and consultants. UK law firms see great entrepreneurial and growth potential – including the ability to raise private equity or be listed on a stock exchange.
In the US, only the District of Columbia allows lawyers to partner with nonlawyers so how the UK bill will affect the US market is uncertain.
“I’m guessing firms here will try to expand there, but the issue I see is whether a U.S. firm can have an office where its lawyers are partners with nonlawyers,” says David Hricik, a professionalism and ethics professor at Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, Ga.
The draft bill is scheduled to go before a joint parliamentary committee within the next few weeks and is expected to make its way through Parliament by the end of 2006.
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Source: Law.com
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