If your average law firm partner at a top international firm in the mid-1990s had been told that multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDPs) would be given the green light within 10 years – as looks certain to be the case in the UK – it would have confirmed their worst fears about the threat posed by the accountancy giants.
With the accountancy-tied firms in full retreat – as they certainly are in the wake of KPMG’s decision last month to abandon its four-year assault on the legal market – it is easy to forget the impact the bean counters had on the world’s legal community a decade ago.
