KPMG launches law firm

KPMG today launched KPMG Law US, making it the first law firm owned by a Big Four firm in the U.S.

KPMG Law US will collaborate with KPMG's global network of law firms, operating in more than 80 jurisdictions, to provide clients with legal managed services, legal operations consulting and legal technology innovation. It will provide legal services powered by artificial intelligence and KPMG Digital Gateway, a cloud-based and generative AI-enabled platform that serves as a "control tower" for a company's tax and legal data and provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities.

The law firm will operate as an independently managed subsidiary of KPMG LLP and maintain strategic alignment with the KPMG LLP Tax practice. It will build on the established presence of KPMG in Arizona, which currently serves over 100 clients.

Milan Jaros/Bloomberg

"KPMG Law US is uniquely positioned to transform the delivery of legal services," Rema Serafi, Vice Chair of tax at KPMG, said in a statement. "By combining cutting-edge artificial intelligence and advanced technology solutions with legal services, we are proud to be a first mover with this capability and to offer the most holistic range of tech-enabled services in the marketplace for our clients' evolving needs."

KPMG set up a subsidiary in January to establish the law firm. It leveraged a state program that began in 2021, ending a restriction on allowing non-lawyers to own law firms in an effort to alleviate the shortage of legal service providers. The firm aims to expand the law firm beyond Arizona after it receives approval from the state supreme court by leveraging state laws and its alternative business structure.

"We have been studying Arizona's structure for years, and we're excited by the possibility that it presents to us," KPMG Tax principal Tom Greenaway, the designated principal on the application, said during a Jan. 14 court hearing. "We think the time is right now for us, given the advances that we have made in technology and the maturity of this market. We really think that we can bring innovation and a complete set of integrated legal solutions to our clients and to other clients here in Arizona." 

Aprio, a private equity-backed Top 25 Firm based in Atlanta, is taking advantage of the same law by joining with Radix Law in Arizona to form Aprio Legal LLC, which will operate as a law firm.