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Practice Management

KPMG asks Arizona to OK alternative business license for subsidiary law firm

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 9, 2025, 8:51 am CST

A subsidiary of accounting company KPMG US is applying to operate as an alternative business structure in Arizona under state ethics rules that permit nonlawyers to own or invest in law firms.

If approved by the Arizona Supreme Court, KPMG Law US would complement the services of traditional firms, a spokesperson told Law.com, Bloomberg Law and Reuters.

Legal teams “face substantial and wide-ranging process challenges that can benefit from legal expertise and technology at scale,” KPMG said in a statement emailed to Law.com. “We aim to solve those pain points, especially on tight timelines.”

The aim is to “bring legal capabilities to managed services, such as contract lifecycle management,” the spokesperson told Bloomberg Law.

Approval would be “a game changer,” according to Law.com.

KPMG Law already offers legal services globally in more than 80 jurisdictions and has more than 3,750 employees. But bans on nonlawyer ownership of firms in most states have prevented companies such as KPMG from offering legal advice with its law-related services in the United States.

The Arizona Supreme Court’s Committee on Alternative Business Structures will consider the proposal Jan. 14. The state supreme court has the final say on approval.

Arizona has already approved more than 100 alternative business structures, but they “have largely been granted to firms practicing personal injury, mass torts and products liability law, as well as trusts, estates and probate law,” according to Law.com.

See also:

KPMG aims to employ 3,000 lawyers within the next few years

Pilot project allowing nonlawyer legal providers gets OK in Washington