EY To Offer Legal Services

EY are to provide legal services in England and Wales as an alternative business structure (ABS), after being granted a licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

EY is a global professional services firm that offer a range of finance graduate schemes and school leaver programmes. They now intend to provide corporate, commercial, employment and financial legal services.

EY have appointed three UK partners. Matthew Kellet, previously Managing Partner of the Finance Practice and Head of Banking and Capital at Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) will head up the financial area of practice.  Philip Goodstone, previously head of corporate at Addleshaw Goddard, will lead all other areas. Dan Aherne, who trained at Freshfields and was partner at Olswang, will build and lead the employment team. A further 30 people will be recruited in the next six months.

Steve Varley, EY’s UK Chairman and Regional Managing Partner in the UK & Ireland, says, “We aren’t competing with the business models of traditional law firms; we are offering something new.”

Philip Goodstone says, “While we are still in the recruitment phase, we have already received strong levels of interest from a number of clients. Our priority is now to grow the team to ensure that we are able to meet this demand.”

EY’s Global Law Leader, Cornelius Grossmann, says, “Having a presence within the UK legal market is an important step as we continue to grow globally. The granting of an ABS will complement EY’s already established multidisciplinary law offering as we expand our network internationally.”

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