KPMG is in the process of recruiting a team of corporate lawyers and may be considering a conversion to an alternative business structure (ABS) in a move to expand its legal services offering.
The firm is advertising for four or five corporate lawyers, as well as a partner-level corporate lawyer to lead a new Manchester-based team which will work alongside its tax advisers as non-practicing solicitors and will focus on intra-group reorganisations.
KPMG is also looking to recruit three additional lawyers for its London-based commercial, tax litigation and employment teams.
The advertisement for one of these roles says that the establishment of KMPG Legal Services Team 'flows naturally from KPMG's long history of successfully delivering multidisciplinary services to clients. Its vision is to be the legal adviser of choice for KPMG's clients when it comes to their people, corporate structures, internal arrangements, regulatory requirements and disputes with HMRC'.
It also says that 'Core corporate, commercial and employment law teams, and a market leading tax litigation team, are already in place. Over the next few years, these teams will grow and Legal Services will expand into other areas of law that fit within its vision and the needs of KPMG's clients'.
KPMG may be considering applying for an ABS licence, according to Legal Week. This would allow the firm to set up a separate legal arm in the UK, after it ended its relationship with the firm's international legal network KLegal in 2003 citing 'unworkable regulatory constraints' as a result of the introduction of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
In a statement, KPMG said: 'KPMG's tax practice has long had a number of non-practising solicitors working with their colleagues in the tax team nationwide. This includes the Manchester office where we have had a tax litigation capability for at least the past ten years. In addition to tax litigation support we have a small team of corporate and employment non-practising solicitors to help us provide multi-disciplinary services (usually around intra-group reorganisations) to clients where required and we predict increased demand for this support.'
