All lawyers are members of one profession subject in each jurisdiction to the law governing lawyers.
The law governing lawyers was developed to protect the public interest and to preserve the core values of the legal profession that are essential to the proper functioning of the American justice system. State bar associations and other entities charged with attorney discipline should reaffirm their commitment to enforcing vigorously their respective law governing lawyers. Jurisdictions should retain and enforce laws that generally bar the practice of law by entities other than law firms. The sharing of legal fees with non-lawyers and the ownership and control of the practice of law by non lawyers are inconsistent with the core values of the legal profession. The law governing lawyers, that prohibits lawyers from sharing legal fees with nonlawyers and from directly or indirectly transferring to nonlawyers ownership or control over entities practicing law, should not be revised.