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Lawyers and Accountants 2020 - 2024
to-peer relationships outside of the system with selected professionals. The result is that the centralized MDP
loses some of its advantages and the members of the MDO receive additional referrals.133
While the Big 5 will maintain their considerable advantages of common quality and responsiveness standards,
MDOs can create structures to challenge these advantages.
[1]—Globalization and Localization
Clients’ needs for services are unique. There are no two businesses that have the same needs at the same
time in the same locations. The Big 5 seeks to solve this problem by bringing resources in-house to offer all
services to businesses everywhere.
The MDO seeks a solution by combining existing networks and service providers into a common organization.
Each has the common objective of being global as well as local at the same time.
Legal services traditionally have been local in nature. This is changing, as services are more uniform.134 It is
not uncommon for lawyers to have a national practice in a particular area of the law. The Internet makes it
easier to locate attorneys with national expertise as John in the PSI example. It also makes it possible for John
to market his services to a large group of potential clients.
The Big 5 have used globalization as a way to offer similar services and products developed in one market or
country in other markets or countries. Beginning with accounting and auditing, which required common
standards be applied, the Big 5 have applied the same principal to other services. As transactions become
even more uniform, products developed in one jurisdiction can be applied in another. The result is a high
return on their investment. True economies of scale can be achieved because they are at the same time
global as well as local.
Using information technology, the Big 5 have the opportunity to localize and tailor services to specific clients
anywhere in the world by using vast resources developed in other parts of the world. The client can then
further refine the services with the local professional. Professionals, who can provide these tailored services,
create a loyal client who knows that in the future all of his consulting needs can be satisfied in one place. Law
and consulting firms, not part of the Big 5, cannot provide these services on a uniform and global basis.
The challenge for the professional service organization lies in being able to differentiate their services. In
theory, firms or companies that are members of an MDO have the advantage because they have access to
greater resources that they do not have to maintain themselves. Most importantly each is already a brand
associated with a type of service. On the other hand, the Big 5 have the resources to reach many more
possible clients.
To provide this transparency for the services of the members, the MDO will need to create structures in which
information can be shared local, globally and between the different members and with clients. The type of
information would provide comparisons with the competition in each of the areas. When this is done, it will
become clear that the MDO members can offer far more services then the Big 5.
133 When communications are direct among the principals in a transaction, this affects other organizations that have traditionally filled the role of
monitor or intermediary.
134 Daly, Resolving Ethical Conflicts in Multijurisdictional Practice — Is Model Rule 8.5 the Answer, An Answer, or No Answer at All, 36 S. Tex. L. Rev.
715, 723 (1995).
52
to-peer relationships outside of the system with selected professionals. The result is that the centralized MDP
loses some of its advantages and the members of the MDO receive additional referrals.133
While the Big 5 will maintain their considerable advantages of common quality and responsiveness standards,
MDOs can create structures to challenge these advantages.
[1]—Globalization and Localization
Clients’ needs for services are unique. There are no two businesses that have the same needs at the same
time in the same locations. The Big 5 seeks to solve this problem by bringing resources in-house to offer all
services to businesses everywhere.
The MDO seeks a solution by combining existing networks and service providers into a common organization.
Each has the common objective of being global as well as local at the same time.
Legal services traditionally have been local in nature. This is changing, as services are more uniform.134 It is
not uncommon for lawyers to have a national practice in a particular area of the law. The Internet makes it
easier to locate attorneys with national expertise as John in the PSI example. It also makes it possible for John
to market his services to a large group of potential clients.
The Big 5 have used globalization as a way to offer similar services and products developed in one market or
country in other markets or countries. Beginning with accounting and auditing, which required common
standards be applied, the Big 5 have applied the same principal to other services. As transactions become
even more uniform, products developed in one jurisdiction can be applied in another. The result is a high
return on their investment. True economies of scale can be achieved because they are at the same time
global as well as local.
Using information technology, the Big 5 have the opportunity to localize and tailor services to specific clients
anywhere in the world by using vast resources developed in other parts of the world. The client can then
further refine the services with the local professional. Professionals, who can provide these tailored services,
create a loyal client who knows that in the future all of his consulting needs can be satisfied in one place. Law
and consulting firms, not part of the Big 5, cannot provide these services on a uniform and global basis.
The challenge for the professional service organization lies in being able to differentiate their services. In
theory, firms or companies that are members of an MDO have the advantage because they have access to
greater resources that they do not have to maintain themselves. Most importantly each is already a brand
associated with a type of service. On the other hand, the Big 5 have the resources to reach many more
possible clients.
To provide this transparency for the services of the members, the MDO will need to create structures in which
information can be shared local, globally and between the different members and with clients. The type of
information would provide comparisons with the competition in each of the areas. When this is done, it will
become clear that the MDO members can offer far more services then the Big 5.
133 When communications are direct among the principals in a transaction, this affects other organizations that have traditionally filled the role of
monitor or intermediary.
134 Daly, Resolving Ethical Conflicts in Multijurisdictional Practice — Is Model Rule 8.5 the Answer, An Answer, or No Answer at All, 36 S. Tex. L. Rev.
715, 723 (1995).
52
