When a separation led to closer links
It might appear almost as if the drive to create one-stop professional services firms made up of accountants and lawyers, spearheaded by the ill-fated Arthur Andersen, never happened.
Today, the former London arm of KLegal, KPMG's now-disbanded tied legal network, will announce record turnover figures as the rebranded independent UK-wide law firm McGrigors.
Earlier this month, Tite & Lewis, the smaller firm that was previously associated with Ernst & Young in the UK, was swallowed up by London-based corporate law firm Lawrence Graham.
The events mark the end of a strategy for the solicitors that, just a few years ago, seemed set to pose a real challenge to the leading established law firms. But any assumptions that business links between the accountants and lawyers have now been severed would be wide of the mark.
“We stay very close,” says Colin Gray, managing partner of McGrigors. “KPMG remains an important source of work both as a client and a work referrer . . . Where the relationship works for clients, it has not actually changed.”
Andersen led the charge into legal services, building a network of about 3,000 lawyers worldwide, before its implosion in the wake of the Enron debacle. The fall-out from US corporate scandals went on to hit otheraccountancy-tied firms too.
Last year, KPMG announced it would discontinue its KLegal network in 60 countries, largely as a result of tough US corporate governance rules. It pointed to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which imposed strict restrictions on accountants supplying non-audit services, such as legal advice, to audit clients, as the main reason for the split.
The rules meant that accountancy-tied firms could no longer advise Securities and Exchange Commission-registered audit clients, one of their prime markets. Other countries also tightened regulatory rules and even where they were not as strict as US restrictions in Britain, for example companies began to shy away from giving non-audit work to their auditors.
“The market is a bit sceptical of [tied firms],” admits Mr Gray. “I wouldn't have said that two years ago. There's been a heck of a lot of change in the market post-Andersen.”
E&Y acquired 19 of the Andersen law firms after its dissolution, and the EY Law Europe network continues largely intact. But, says Christopher Tite, one of the founders of Tite & Lewis: “Sarbanes-Oxley affected us because we were doing quite a lot of work for US corporations that were audit clients. So we were shut out of a big part of the market. We sat down with E&Y in February and decided that, sensibly, we should break the financial link but not the business relationship.”
It is an irony not lost on the solicitors that, since the formal association that was supposed to allow them to work closely together became a handicap, it is only by splitting apart that they are now free to co-operate again. Mr Gray adds: “For example, there is an SEC-registered client that we did a lot of work for but had to stop. Now there is a possibility they might come back.”
He admits he feared that the negative publicity of the KPMG split would hit profitability. In that light, he says, McGrigors' record revenues of ￡42.4m ($80m) for 2003-04, up 5 per cent, show that the firm will be able to flourish on its own. Coming from Scottish roots, the firm, which has 55 partners and 340 more junior lawyers, has achieved the growth by boosting its London turnover by about 30 per cent and aims to continue growing in England.
Though the tie-up “didn't do what it said on the tin”, Mr Gray says the firm had nevertheless emerged with better international links with other former KLegal members and an ongoing relationship with one of the Big Four accountants.
He is aware that the relationship must not appear too close. McGrigors will also today move out of its offices inside KPMG's London headquarters. Its new premises are only a few blocks away, though close enough to stay in regular personal contact with the accountants. The reason for the move is the need for more space, Mr Gray insists, though he concedes: “Maybe there's an identity point as well.”
The value of the continuing relationship with a Big Four accountant is perhaps best illustrated by the number of offers that flooded in to the six-partner Tite & Lewis after the split. “We had about 23 merger approaches in the May, June and July period. It was extraordinary,” says Mr Tite. He maintains the key attraction for Lawrence Graham was Tite & Lewis's real estate and outsourcing expertise, though “the E&Y relationship around the world was the icing on that”.
It is also far from true that the accountants have given up on associated legal services. KLegal has been disbanded and Deloitte never branched into the sector, while none of the Big Four are tied to lawyers in the US. But PwC continues with its associated legal network Landwell, largely in Europe, while EY Law Europe still operates in more than 20 countries, but not the UK.
Leon Flavell, senior partner of Landwell UK, says the legal network is alive and well: “This is a professional relationship which is in keeping with the current regulatory climate and in the best interests of its clients. There are no plans to change this arrangement.
“In other countries a small minority of associated firms have separated in response to local regulatory requirements. However the vast majority remain.”
The links between lawyers and accountants, formal or not, are far from dead and buried. It is clear, though, that solicitors from former tied firms will not be able to take their links to the accountants for granted.
EY Law Europe says: “We are looking for a new co-operating partner in the UK.”
分手反而更亲密
现在看来，那些提供会计师和律师一站式专业服务的尝试就好像从来没有发生过。而这项尝试是由走霉运的安达信（Arthur Anderson）所积极倡导的。
而Klegal公司前伦敦分部，即毕马威（KPMG）已经解散了的关联法律网络，现已摇身一变，成了面向全英国的独立律师事务所McGrigors。今天它将宣布创纪录的营业数据。
本月早些时候，规模较小的律师事务所Tite Lewis被总部位于伦敦的律师事务所Lawrence Graham吞并。此前Tite Lewis与英国的安永（Ernst Young）是业务关联企业。
对律师们来说，上述一系列事件标志着一种策略的终结。而仅仅几年前，这种策略似乎能给根基雄厚的著名律师事务所带来真正的挑战。然而，如果认为会计师与律师之间的业务联系现已一刀两断，那也与事实大相径庭。
“我们的关系非常密切，”McGrigors的常务合伙人科林?格雷（Colin Gray）说，“毕马威既是我们的客户，也是我们的业务转介者，所以仍然是一个重要的业务来源……这种关系对客户有利，实际上它从来就没有改变。”
安达信曾带头进军法律服务领域，在全球建立了一个由大约3000名律师组成的网络。但是在安然（Enron）瓦解之后，安达信也从内部崩溃。多桩美国公司丑闻的余波继续对其它与会计业务有关联的公司造成打击。
去年，毕马威宣布停止其在60个国家的KLegal网络，这基本上是严厉的美国公司治理法规所造成的后果。毕马威指出，萨班斯-奥克斯利法案（Sarbanes-Oxley Act）是其将业务分拆的主要原因。该法案对会计师事务所向审计客户提供法律咨询等非审计服务设置了严格的限制。
这些法规意味着，与会计业务有关联的公司可能再也不能为在证券交易委员会登记的审计客户们提供咨询了，而这些客户正是这些公司面对的主要市场之一。其它国家也收紧了监管法规，甚至在法规不如美国严格的地区（比如英国），会计师事务所也开始回避给审计师分派非审计方面的工作。
格雷先生承认，“市场（对与会计业务有关联的公司）持有怀疑的态度。在两年之前我不会这样说，但在安达信事件之后市场发生了很大的变化。”
安达信解体后，安永收购了安达信旗下的19家律师事务所，但欧洲安永律师事务所的网络基本上没有受到影响。不过，Tite Lewis创始人之一的克里斯托弗?泰特（Christopher Tite）说：“萨班斯-奥克斯利法案对我们产生了影响，因为当时我们为许多美国公司提供服务，这些公司也是我们的审计客户。因此我们失去了这个市场的一大块业务。我们2月份与安永坐下来商讨，并做出了明智的决定：我们应切断财务上的联系，但保持业务上的关系。”
这俨然是一大讽刺，而律师们并非不知道：既然本应使他们密切配合的这种正式关系已成为障碍，那么只有通过分拆，才能使他们获得现在的自由，再次进行合作。格雷先生补充道：“比如，有一个在证交会登记的审计客户，我们为它做过许多工作，后来不得不停止。现在又有了可能性，让它重新成为我们的客户。”
他承认，他担心分拆毕马威所带来的负面宣传会打击McGrigor的盈利能力。他表示，就这一点来说，McGrigor在2003至2004年度4240万英镑（合8000万美元）、增幅5%的创纪录营收业绩表明，公司能够独立地发展壮大。这家公司源自苏格兰，现有55名合伙人和340名初级律师，公司已将它在伦敦的营业额提高了大约30%，从而实现了增长，现在它的目标是继续在英国发展。
尽管关联性“并没有带来它所标榜的后果”，但格雷先生说，他的公司却能与其它前Klegal成员建立了更好的国际联系，并能维持与其中一家“四大会计师事务所”的联系。
他明白到，这种关系看上去不能显得过于密切。今天，McGrigors也将搬出在毕马威伦敦总部的办公场所。新的办公地点只有几条街的距离，这对于与会计师保持个人的联系已经足够近了。格雷先生强调，迁址的原因是地方不够用，但他也承认：“也许还有公司形象的问题。”
与一家“四大会计师事务所”保持关系，其好处也许能在分拆之后涌向Tite Lewis的收购要约数量上得到了最好的体现。Tite Lewis共有6名合伙人。泰特先生说，“在5至7月期间，我们收到了23项合并提议。这实在非同寻常。”他认为，对Lawrence Graham来说，关键的吸引力是Tite Lewis在房地产和外包业务上具有专业经验，而“安永遍布全球的客户关系则是锦上添花。”
如果说会计师事务所已放弃了相关的法律服务，这也与事实有天壤之别。诚然，KLegal已被解散，德勤（Deloitte）从来没有将业务扩展到法律服务领域，而四大会计师事务所也没有和美国的律师事务所挂钩。但是普华永道（PwC）仍在继续维持其名为Landwell的相关法律网络，其业务基本上在欧洲运作。而欧洲安永律师事务所则继续在20多个国家经营，不过它在英国没有业务。
英国Landwell高级合伙人列昂?弗拉维尔（Leon Flavell）表示，该法律网络目前运行良好：“这是一种专业关系，符合目前的监管规定，也符合客户的最佳利益。所以眼下并没有改变这种安排的计划。”
他说，“在其它一些国家，少数关联公司已针对当地的监管规定做出了回应，并已分拆出来。但是大多数仍保留了下来。”
律师和会计师之间的联系无论正式与否，都远没有因此而消失。不过有一点却很清楚：原来与会计业务有关联的律师们将不能再把他们与会计师的关系看成是天经地义的安排了。
欧洲安永律师事务所表示，“我们正在英国寻求一个新的合作伙伴。”
