KPMG to grow legal services with ABS status

KPMG is looking to expand its legal services team in Manchester after securing an alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

It has been granted the licence on a multi-disciplinary practice basis, which means it can provide a mixture of legal and non-legal services.

Unlike PwC, which gained ABS status earlier in the year, it does not plan to develop a standalone legal practice.

In Manchester KPMG’s 12-strong legal services team is led by Nick Roome who joined from DLA Piper earlier in the year.

UK chairman Simon Collins said: “The multi-disciplinary ABS licence enables us to enhance and increase the legal services we offer our clients. We are taking a focused approach, our key market differentiator is that we will only offer legal services which are fully integrated with other areas where we already provide advice.
 
“To be clear, we have absolutely no plans to develop any kind of standalone legal practice. The new regulatory regime, designed to open up the provision of professional services across the sector, allows us to extend our legal services provision where we have a proven and successful track record.”