The American Bar Association, during their annual meeting in Dallas, a href="http://www.accountingweb.com/webnews/wed/ch/Aaba-branching-out.RQA8_AFE.html">debated the pros and cons of allowing lawyers to merge with accountants and other business professionals.

During the six-day meeting, much of the agenda was taken up with this topic, which has been in the news over the past year with the ventures of several Big 5 accounting firms to offer legal services.

However, a resolution was not reached, and the ABA expects no resolution before August, at the earliest. The president of the ABA, William Paul, even commented that the debate is the biggest one to hit the profession in decades.