KPMG Arizona Law Firm Finding on Hold as Court Wants Answers (1)

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday requested more information on KPMG’s application to practice law in the state, declining for now to approve the company’s request.

The court met to consider the application Tuesday after an Arizona committee earlier this month recommended KPMG’s approval, which would make it the first Big Four accounting firm to practice law in the US.

“The KPMG application remains under review,” court communications director Alberto Rodriguez said in an email. The court has requested “additional information or clarification on aspects of the application.”

There are “no specifics or timeframe” as to when the court will make a final decision, Rodriguez said.

KPMG didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

KPMG’s application to practice law in Arizona marks the first attempt by a Big Four accounting firm to launch a US legal venture via the state’s alternative business structure program, launched in 2021. The program seeks to expand access to legal services by letting lawyers share ownership of firms with non-lawyer business partners.

Representatives of KPMG’s proposed Arizona law firm, KPMG Law US, faced several questions from the state Alternative Business Structures committee at a Jan. 14 meeting.

Committee members asked how KPMG Law US will provide services in other states that lack Arizona’s fee-sharing regime. David Rizzo, the designated compliance lawyer for KPMG Law US, told committee members that it will use staffing agencies and co-counseling relationships with other law firms to serve clients in other jurisdictions.

“It’s going to be my job to ensure that Arizona lawyers are not holding themselves out as lawyers in other jurisdictions,” Rizzo told the committee. “We are aware of the kind of trouble that sloppy operations can get us in.”

The committee went on to formally recommend the KPMG license application to the state’s top court.