It is one of the City legal market’s best known stories. A big five accountancy firm strikes a deal to tie up with a top UK firm. The deal is announced in a blaze of publicity and we are told that it will only be a matter of time before the merger formally takes place. The same message is repeated when a number of partners, who oppose the tie-up, quit the firm. Then, suddenly, the marriage is off. The accountants walk away from the negotiating table leaving the reputation of the bean counters within the City’s legal community in tatters.
We are, of course, referring to Arthur Andersen and its ill-fated courtship of Wilde Sapte. But the story bears a striking resemblance to the next serious big five bid to snap up a UK law firm – KPMG’s planned union with McGrigor Donald. Except that, at the time of going to press, this particular story had not run its course. Yes, the two sides have agreed to merge, but the official union has been delayed due to what are being described vaguely as ‘logistics’. In the meantime, several McGrigors partners have jumped ship including, in London, former City managing partner Stephen Scates, fellow property partner Mark Johnstone and technology partner Hannah Sutter.
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