Recently Private Eye ran a cover featuring Kate Middleton with a speech bubble saying: “I’m like, yah, so totally a commoner”. You could probably run a version of that joke for many lawyers: “I’m so totally a businessman”. Technically, it may be a true statement, but it doesn’t convince. Your perception is all a question of where you’re standing and to many business people, lawyers don’t look all that business-minded. That’s probably because many lawyers are unconvinced that the practice of law should be too overtly business-like. It’s the old divide between the professions and trade.
For a while now, people have been making predictions about fundamental change in the provision of legal services. Back in 2002, the Evening Standard reported: “During its short existence, Garretts had become a byword among lawyers for multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) – that controversial union of lawyer and accountant which at one point promised a fundamental shake-up of the legal world” [emphasis added]. MDPs had been a major discussion topic in the profession in the late 1990s. Now we have the Legal Services Act and ABSs. How much change should we expect this time? I’m not sure. If you open your copy of Great Expectations, the attitudes of the lawyer Jaggers are still recognisable today.
