KPMG Law has recently undergone a combination with ZICO Law as the Big Four consulting firm looks to extend its reach across Southeast Asia. Leaders of the two entities share with ALB on how they plan to guarantee a smooth transition and harness their respective strengths to scale new heights in the region.
ALB: Can you provide some details about the agreement reached between ZICO Law and KPMG?
Stuart Fuller, head of global legal services, KPMG Law:
Under the agreement, more than 275 lawyers from ZICO Law network have successfully integrated with over 2,900 legal professionals in the KPMG network. This will take KPMG firms’ coverage to a total of 84 jurisdictions with over 3,200 legal professionals, creating a significant legal footprint across Asia Pacific.
Consistent with local regulatory requirements, teams from the ZICO Law network firms in Thailand and Vietnam join the KPMG firms in those jurisdictions; and the former ZICO Law network firms in Indonesia and Malaysia become members of the KPMG network of firms. Subject to satisfaction of all terms, teams from the ZICO Law network firms in Laos will also join the KPMG firm in Laos, and the former ZICO Law network firm in the Philippines will become a member of the KPMG network. In Singapore, subject to internal and regulatory approvals, it is anticipated that a Singapore law firm will apply to join the KPMG network of firms in the course of 2023. The remaining ZICO Law network firms in other jurisdictions in ASEAN will continue to collaborate with KPMG member firms. In each jurisdiction, our clients’ needs will be met across an expanded geographic footprint and range of capabilities, and our people will have opportunities to develop their careers and work on challenging and interesting projects.
Given that the ZICO firms in some jurisdictions (Vietnam and Thailand) have undergone full integration into the KPMG firms in those jurisdictions, this will naturally include leadership and management changes for both parties to ensure that talents are optimally deployed.
Hanim Hamzah, Asia-Pacific regional leader of legal services, KPMG Law:
For the other ZICO firms, the leadership and management structures will be unchanged as they will remain as independent legal firms within KPMG’s global legal network. Teams will have more opportunities to collaborate and work together, but this will not affect management or reporting lines.
ALB: What were some of the drivers for both ZICO and KPMG Law to come to this agreement?
Hamzah: The global business landscape is evolving at a rapid pace and facing unprecedented large-scale challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, mass digitalisation, global conflicts, climate change, technological disruption and more. Businesses are finding themselves in need of robust legal services to help them navigate these new challenges, especially in the Asia-Pacific, which remains the fastestgrowing region in the world.
In the face of these new challenges and to meet new, urgent demand by the region’s business community for more responsive and specialised legal services, both KPMG and the ZICO Law Network determined that the time was right for this strategic agreement.
Fuller: KPMG and ZICO have enjoyed a non-exclusive, close collaboration arrangement for many years. This strategic agreement is a natural culmination of that longstanding, fruitful relationship, enabling both parties to complement each other’s strengths and amplifies their capacity to drive more value for clients and organisations, as well as to achieve improved business objectives in times of exponential change.
ALB: What are some of the natural synergies between the two entities that you hope to utilise as KPMG grows regionally?
Fuller: Over the years, KPMG has been investing in the acceleration of global solutions for ESG issues, from training our workforce, harnessing data, developing new technologies and forging alliances. This is our shared vision among many other synergies we can support our clients to create sustainable value in the long term.
Like any global legal services business, KPMG has two arrangements to be able to serve clients in various geographies: depending on local regulatory requirements, we either operate as KPMG Law or work with local independent law firms and networks on non-exclusive best friend arrangement.
We keep markets in which we do not yet have a presence under regular review so that we can study and understand local environment better in these markets. KPMG does not rule out the possibility of forming alliances or joint ventures in jurisdictions where it is allowed; in any case, law firms are still governed and bound by the regulatory framework of local markets.
