Bar Group Affirms Ban on Partnerships With Nonlawyers
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NEW YORK — The American Bar Assn. reaffirmed a controversial rule Tuesday forbidding lawyers from entering partnerships with nonlawyers, including accountants and financial planners.
The ABA’s House of Delegates, its policymaking body, passed a resolution strengthening its opposition to joint business arrangements, known as multidisciplinary practices.
The ABA’s rules prohibit a lawyer or law firm from sharing legal fees with a nonlawyer, or forming a partnership with a nonlawyer, if the activities involve the practice of law.
Last year an ABA commission, set up to study multidisciplinary practices, proposed lifting the ban against fee-sharing. The proposal resulted in such bitter debate that the ABA’s house voted to defer the matter for further study.
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