EY goes multi-disciplinary as it gains legal services licence

A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PRACTICE will be run by EY, after the Big Four firm was granted a licence to provide legal services in England and Wales.

The licence enables accountants and lawyers to work together more closely with clients, and EY has appointed three partners – with a further 30 staff to be recruited in the next six months – to drive the new business. EY had confirmed in March that it was looking to grow its legal services capability.

EY joins PwC, KPMG, Kingston Smith, Price Bailey and Hope Shaw in firms gaining a licence to provide legal services.

Parliament approved the ICAEW as a probate and ABS regulator in the summer.

Steve Varley, EY UK chairman and UK&I managing partner, said: “We aren’t competing with the business models of traditional law firms; we are offering something new. By working closely with other parts of the organisation, clients will benefit from our global scale, in-depth industry knowledge as well as having a single point of contact for all of their professional service needs.”

Key areas for service provision include large transactions, employment structures and group reorganisation projects.

The new team will be led by Philip Goodstone and Matthew Kellett. Goodstone was head of corporate at Addleshaw Goddard, and has more than 20 years’ experience – including 15 years advising on clients in the real estate sector. Kellett was previously managing partner, finance, and head of banking and capital markets at Berwin Leighton Paisner. He also held senior roles at RBS, AIG and Linklaters.

They are joined by employment law head Dan Aherne, who previously headed Olswang’s employment group.