When does a team hire become a crime? It is a question that French firm Fidal is asking after accountancy firm KPMG hired 144 of its lawyers in one of the biggest law firm raids of recent times.

The hire, which included 26 partners, marks an acrimonious turn in what used to be a close relationship between the two parties, spanning back decades. The pair had a non-exclusive partnership agreement from 2011 until it was broken off in July 2018.

Fidal is now expected to bring legal action against KPMG on the basis of 'unfair competition', which could either refer to the European law that states a firm cannot abuse its majority position in a market, or a French civil liability law that allows companies to make cases for unfair competition. In turn, KPMG could respond that prior to this hire its French legal arm was relatively minor, having only been established in 2018.