KPMG’s legal arm and Ogletree Deakins have formed a “global alliance,” which will enable the Big Four accounting company to offer the labor and employment firm’s services to clients outside the U.S.
The move has some similarities with a deal announced two years ago between Deloitte and Epstein Becker Green, another instance in which a Big Four accounting company has allied with an employment-focused U.S. firm.
The alliances are an usual marriage of Big Law and the Big Four, two industries often viewed as competitors as the latter makes inroads in providing legal services outside the U.S.
“Ogletree Deakins’ labor, employment and immigration experience in the United States is a perfect fit for KPMG’s organization of firms as we expand our global legal services practice and our global mobility services offerings around the world,” said Thomas Wolf, Head of Global Immigration Services for KPMG in a statement.
The release clarified that the deal does not include KPMG in the U.S., given that regulations in most states forbid nonlawyer-owned companies from directly providing legal services. The other three Big Four giants are EY, PwC, and Deloitte.
Ogletree Deakins and KPMG Law in Germany utilize tech to enhance client service, according to the statement, including in artificial intelligence and data analytics. The alliance should allow both operations to provide clients with these new tech solutions.
KPMG Law’s network of different offices includes 2,800 lawyers in 81 jurisdictions.
Ogletree Deakins is an employment, labor and workplace law firm, which boasts more than 900 attorneys who work in more than 50 offices in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and Europe, according to the firm’s website.
“Our alliance with KPMG Law in Germany will benefit clients by complementing our U.S. labor, employment and immigration offerings with ‘end-to-end’ workplace solutions—including tax, compensation, global immigration, and related advisory and consulting services, over a truly global footprint,” said Matt Keen, Ogletree’s managing shareholder, in the statement.
The “non-exclusive” deal has similarities to the arrangement announced between Deloitte and Epstein Becker Green.
That partnership has benefited both operations since, especially as the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on most world economies, causing spikes in layoffs and furloughs and adding to the work of labor and employment lawyers.
Deloitte and Epstein Becker have referred numerous clients to each other, officials from both operations said back in November, helping cause the relationship to become a business “accelerator.”
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