KPMG's legal boss says there's one area where the Big Four can have an edge over Big Law

• The Big Four have been expanding into legal services for roughly fifteen years with varying success.
• KPMG's legal head told BI there's still room for growth but that it has no plans to take on Big Law.
• Stuart Bedford explained why there are some services the Big Four can do better than Big Law.

The Big Four only have a tiny fraction of the legal market — but there's an area they might have an edge.

Stuart Bedford, KPMG's head of legal services, told Business Insider that Big Four firms like his could handle the "enormous scale" integration needed once a merger deal is past the initial finishing line.

"You need that institutional scale to be able to really translate the legal advisory into the world of large global clients seeking to solve problems which cut across many areas of their business and many jurisdictions."

Bedford, who is himself a Big Law veteran, having worked at the Magic Circle firm Linklaters for 20 years, said that Big Law firms are "absolute machines" at mergers and acquisitions and merger control filings because "they are designed and set up for that."

He added he could not think of anyone "outside the Big Four" that can offer "the right amount of investment in the technology, in the global infrastructure, plus the law to be able to really put it all together."

Traditionally consulting and accountancy firms, the Big Four first started pushing into the legal sector in 2010 to operate as "Alternative Legal Services Providers."

While they operate in key markets like the UK, Germany, and Canada, their legal divisions remain smaller by head count and revenue than other business lines. The Big Four represented just 5.6% of the ALSP market in 2023.

But KPMG wants in on this growing market. In North America, the UK, Europe, and Australia, the ALSP market has risen from less than $1 billion in 2015 to an estimated $28.5 billion in 2023, according to a January report by the Thomson Reuters Institute, the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law, and Oxford University's Saïd Business School.

In February, KPMG became the first of the Big Four to break into the US market by obtaining a unique license to practice law in Arizona. This circumvented a rule set by the American Bar Association that allows only licensed lawyers to own or invest in law firms.

Bedford said KPMG is targeting the managed services that follow a $10 million plus global acquisition deal, like changing documentation to fit with new policies or working out what to do with 500 newly redundant subsidiaries.

Bedford said this area "doesn't have dominant players," adding, "There is still a huge amount for us to play for."

He said that the firm's global operating model, unified technology platform, and multi-disciplinary operations make it uniquely placed to support large clients.

"We are just so much more global than even the most global law firm," Bedford told BI.

A 'global law firm'

Of KPMG's three divisions — audit, advisory, and tax & legal services — the latter was the fastest growing last year, up 9.5%. Business from its audit and advisory lines slowed to grow by 6% and 2%, respectively.

Bedford said KPMG Law was still at an early stage in its combined go-to-market strategy, adding that it was working across 80 jurisdictions to forge ties with KPMG's consulting, tax, and cyber teams.

"Servicing large clients at scale globally through the multi-disciplinary approach. That is core to our strategy," he said.

Bedford said the firm, which is the smallest of the Big Four by employee numbers and revenue, "needed the US" market to expand its contract-managed services business.

"It's the most sophisticated and most advanced," Bedford said. "There is just a huge amount of opportunity to shoot for."

Legal experts previously told BI that the Big Four firm's entry into the US market will drive up competition for talent and business but is unlikely to cause disruption in the short term.

"Legal services are hired based on long-term proven track record. Any new entry into the market is going to have to overcome that competitive energy," said Kirsten Keegan Vasquez, vice president of the legal recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa.

Legal services is also not a story of uninterrupted growth for the Big Four. This March, EY confirmed to Business Insider that it was restructuring its UK Law business and laying off workers in the division.

In Australia, KPMG disbanded its in-house legal division in July 2024.

EY's Australia boss told staff it was planning to reduce its legal operations in the country in February, the Australian Financial Review reported in February 2025. PwC's legal business has also shrunk in Australia, AFR added.

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