Ethics

The analogy is not a perfect one, but we should keep in mind what happened with the investment banks when they switched from ownership by investment bankers to ownership by shareholders.   Most of the big investment banks used to be partnerships owned by their partners.  For the most part they behaved responsibly.  Then in 1970, the New York Stock Exchange changed its rules to allow member firms to have a public float.  Most of the big firms went public.  Salomon Brothers for example made the switch in 1981 with a merger into Phibro Commodities.  One can read in Michael Lewis's book Liar's Poker what happened there.  Lehman Brothers also made the switch away from partnership, and we all know the fate of that public company.

More on this in my article with Minnesota Law Professor Claire Hill:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1510443

I am not saying that non-lawyer ownership necessarily will lead to a decline in ethics at large law firms.  If lawyers, unlike investment bankers, have personal liability for the debts of their firms (particularly for carelessness and other forms of malpractice) it might work.  I am saying that the investment bankers' experience with outside ownership has not worked and we should think seriously about whether the same thing could happen to us.