Core values would be most greatly threatened in MDPs controlled by nonlawyers. The ABA proposal for court certification and audits cannot be an adequate safeguard to that patent danger. The ABA offers no empirical evidence that the consumers of legal services are demanding MDPs, nor really any benefit analysis at all. The Big 5 accounting firms are the impetus for and champions of MDPs, but their motive is advancement of their own economic interests. The ABA's proposed safeguards to the core values of the legal profession, resting in the hands of the already over-burdened and underfunded state supreme courts, are not likely to be effective.
Enforcement is likely to be quite inconsistent from one jurisdiction to the next.
Burying our heads in the sand is not an option. Opposition to MDPs by the organized bar will not stem the tide of de facto MDP's in the accounting firms and elsewhere. The existing rules must be aggressively enforced to retard the growth of MDPs, or lawyers will be put to an increasing competitive disadvantage compared to accountants and others who provide legal services without being required to adhere to the same ethical standards that govern lawyers. Small practitioners, solos and young lawyers starting out in practice will be most adversely affected by MDPs, as they will not be able to compete with large well-funded accounting firms. Young lawyers will suffer from the lack of mentoring by experienced, ethical lawyers as they learn how to practice in the real world.