KPMG says its new initiative to provide legal operations services — and "transform" such offerings in the process — is no shot in the dark, but a response to client demand as the accounting firm and its peers in the Big Four continue to expand into the legal industry.
The new initiative, dubbed Global Legal Operations Transformation Services, is aimed at helping in-house departments and firms more effectively run the business side of their operations, including by increasing efficiency, incorporating technology, and improving business processes, KPMG said Wednesday.
"Our mission is to help business lawyers get better at delivering legal services to their clients," said Eric Gorman, a principal at KPMG who will head up the initiative in the U.S. "There are ways for in-house legal departments as well as law firms to increase efficiency [and] leverage many of the business process methodologies and improvements and technologies that have come onto the market and are being utilized in other sectors of the business world."
He indicated that KPMG expects there to be a high demand for the service, saying that existing clients have been looking for this type of legal operations help.
"There is just a groundswell of interest in this among legal departments," he said. "The number of discussions and conversations that have organically arisen from clients is frankly remarkable. Our vision for ourselves at KPMG is that we want to be a partner to help them solve their pressing, urgent problems; this is a pressing urgent problem."
Outside the United States, in jurisdictions with more relaxed rules around the practice of law, the initiative will also offer legal advice, according to the firm. KPMG currently provides legal services in 81 jurisdictions, it said.
The Global Legal Operations Transformation Services initiative is the latest move by a Big Four firm to increase its legal industry offerings. Deloitte launched a similar offering in July, promising consulting and technology services for corporate legal departments designed to "accelerate the transformation of the business of law."
In recent years, PricewaterhouseCoopers, EY and KPMG have also been offering some of the legal business services that have traditionally been handled by law firms.
Gorman told Law360 that the current project builds on the firm's existing services, but that he also sees it as a new frontier.
"We're drawing on different skill sets and professional disciplines within the firm that have existed ... but we're focusing them on and through the lens of legal practice," he said. "[It's about] how you help lawyers, how you tailor those skills specifically to lawyers ... in order to help them with their operations."
The initiative, he said, will be staffed not only by legal operations professionals but also by data analysts and change management experts.
To others in the industry, the new initiative is the latest sign of interest by the Big Four in practicing in the United States.
"We have seen [Big Four firms] moving into the legal space in general ... outside of the U.S. because there are more liberal laws outside of the U.S.," said Stephanie Corey, the founder and general partner at legal consulting outfit UpLevel Ops. "They're also building that capability in the U.S."
She added that she anticipates that rules around the practice of law in the U.S. will be relaxed in coming years. There have already been some such changes, including an amendment to the rules in Arizona that allows nonlawyers to have an ownership interest in law firms and corporations to hire lawyers for the purpose of providing legal services to the public.
"[The Big Four firms] are building this infrastructure so that they can pull the trigger when they need to," Corey said.
Corey and UpLevel consultant Liz Lugones both said that there has been an increased demand for legal operations services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of consulting services, they said, they have seen in-house departments lean on outside operations and cut expenses through outsourcing.
"I think the value proposition for the companies is huge," Lugones said. "They are restricted in how much headcount they can bring in, but yet they are being asked to operate more efficiently and effectively and create more transparency — and all of these things are what a legal operations function brings to a legal department."
As KPMG expands into the space, Corey said, she expects it will have plenty of interest from major companies willing to pay top dollar for the prestige of a Big Four firm, and that it is well-positioned to attract business for the new initiative.
"They're already working with these clients," she noted. "They're already embedded with them."
Sourced from Law360 - written Alanna Weissman