Last week’s decision by the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) House of Delegates to reject the Commission on multi-disciplinary practices’ (MDPs’) recommendation to allow MDPs could be regarded in the future as the point when the ABA chose to walk away from deciding the direction of the US legal profession.

It seems strange that the trade body of a profession that prides itself on its ability to assess evidence objectively and dispassionately should ignore a recommendation from a commission that it set up to examine the vital issue of whether lawyers should be able to work in partnerships alongside other professionals.