Ernst & Young has announced an alliance with a Washington, D.C.based law firm. It is said to be the first alliance between a Big Five firm and a law firm in the United States. The alliance is intended to offer clients a unique, integrated professional services model.
The new firm will be called McKee Nelson Ernst & Young LLP, after founding tax lawyers William McKee and William Nelson. The firm will focus initially on tax-related legal services. It will be operated as an independent affiliate in the Ernst & Young International global network.
"This alliance is a watershed event in the professional services field," said Philip Laskawy, Ernst & Young's chair and CEO.
Laskawy explicitly noted that the firm will operate as a separate, independent entity and that Ernst & Young will neither have financial interest in the firm nor be involved in its day-to-day management. Current U.S. regulations prohibit lawyers from sharing fees with nonlawyers.
The announcement may be something of a testing of the waters for the receptivity of the U.S. marketplace and regulators to nonprofessional ownership of law firms. Ernst & Young and other Big Five firms already have relationships with law firms overseas. If Ernst & Young's maneuver were to be repeated in this country by other firms, it might force the question of multidisciplinary partnerships here as well. *
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