Page 10 - MDPs - Chapter 14 - Multidisciplinayr Practice and Partnershps
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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.
Because top professional service firms must provide both local as well as global services, they have no
choice but to be part of an MDO or MDP. While the Big 5 are adapting their strategies to both localization
and globalization, the larger issue is whether their structures are suited for optimum performance when
new technology makes a decentralized operation much more efficient and cost effective.
[2]---Core Competencies and Quality
The American Bar Association’s Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice in its final report added
competency as one of the core values of the legal profession.14 While the other core values may be what
distinguish a profession from a job,15 competence of professionals is what clients seek, perhaps above all.
The Big 5’s MDP strategy developed because complex transactions require assembling and managing
teams of competent professionals to assist the client. As competencies converged or began to overlap
this raised the unspoken issue that is the heart of the multidisciplinary practice debate: Who manages the
team when many issues are involved in the transaction? It is the “managed’ who must make decisions on
the importance of each of the services being provided to achieve the desired result. This is where the
power lies and what may be really at stake in the MDP debate.
The Big 5, using their multiple services, would like to manage the entire transaction. Managing the
transaction means higher fees than simply being part of the team. Perhaps this is why the Big 5 places so
much emphasis on management and marketing 16
Law firms and other professionals may be extremely competent in their limited areas of expertise.
However, the skills that are required to reach and implement a conclusion are more managerial then
professional. Since multidisciplinary partnerships are prohibited in most of the principal jurisdictions, the
very real question for the legal profession is: How are lawyers going to develop these managerial skills
that the client considers to be the most important element of the transaction? For the time being, law
firms, because of ethical restraints or lack of skills, are unlikely to be the ones chosen to manage the
transaction. This means that the Big 5 have the capacity to control the transactions regardless of the other
services that may be required to complete it.
Again, the MDO can assist all of its members in developing new management skills by sharing information.
This can be done at meetings and in publications. Members can meet individually to form sub-groups.
14 American Bar Association, Final Report to the House of Delegates, July 2000.
15 The other core values were independence; maintain confidences and loyalty by avoiding the conflicts of interest.
16 Arthur Andersen has numerous training facilities where new recruits as well as lateral hires are trained in the business of management.
http://www.arthurandersen.com/website.nsf/content/CareersTraining?OpenDocument.
5
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.
Because top professional service firms must provide both local as well as global services, they have no
choice but to be part of an MDO or MDP. While the Big 5 are adapting their strategies to both localization
and globalization, the larger issue is whether their structures are suited for optimum performance when
new technology makes a decentralized operation much more efficient and cost effective.
[2]---Core Competencies and Quality
The American Bar Association’s Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice in its final report added
competency as one of the core values of the legal profession.14 While the other core values may be what
distinguish a profession from a job,15 competence of professionals is what clients seek, perhaps above all.
The Big 5’s MDP strategy developed because complex transactions require assembling and managing
teams of competent professionals to assist the client. As competencies converged or began to overlap
this raised the unspoken issue that is the heart of the multidisciplinary practice debate: Who manages the
team when many issues are involved in the transaction? It is the “managed’ who must make decisions on
the importance of each of the services being provided to achieve the desired result. This is where the
power lies and what may be really at stake in the MDP debate.
The Big 5, using their multiple services, would like to manage the entire transaction. Managing the
transaction means higher fees than simply being part of the team. Perhaps this is why the Big 5 places so
much emphasis on management and marketing 16
Law firms and other professionals may be extremely competent in their limited areas of expertise.
However, the skills that are required to reach and implement a conclusion are more managerial then
professional. Since multidisciplinary partnerships are prohibited in most of the principal jurisdictions, the
very real question for the legal profession is: How are lawyers going to develop these managerial skills
that the client considers to be the most important element of the transaction? For the time being, law
firms, because of ethical restraints or lack of skills, are unlikely to be the ones chosen to manage the
transaction. This means that the Big 5 have the capacity to control the transactions regardless of the other
services that may be required to complete it.
Again, the MDO can assist all of its members in developing new management skills by sharing information.
This can be done at meetings and in publications. Members can meet individually to form sub-groups.
14 American Bar Association, Final Report to the House of Delegates, July 2000.
15 The other core values were independence; maintain confidences and loyalty by avoiding the conflicts of interest.
16 Arthur Andersen has numerous training facilities where new recruits as well as lateral hires are trained in the business of management.
http://www.arthurandersen.com/website.nsf/content/CareersTraining?OpenDocument.
5
