The legal arm of KMPG in the UK have announced the elevation of Alice Killingbeck, Isabel Simpson, James Thomas and Rich Woods to Partner. A period of huge growth for the company has seen 63 colleagues promoted to the position of Director or Partner in its tax and legal departments.
Alice Killingbeck leads KPMG’s Family Office and Private Client Legal business, which sees her work with UK and international high net worth individuals and private business owners on issues relating to the management, growth and transition of their personal and business wealth.
Isabel Simpson will oversee the Data Privacy Team in the UK and solutions globally, supported by 15 years’ experience focusing on data and information technology law.
James Thomas heads the Legal Technology Team in the UK, and now takes on the role of Chief Technology Officer in KPMG Law’s EMEA technology and growth hub.
Rich Woods, who joined KPMG Law just under two years ago, is an integral part of the fast growing and successful Corporate Deals and Structuring business. He has a particular focus on the tech sector and high growth clients.
These announcements at the professional services firm come as part of several others including 108 new partners (including 26 in tax and legal), seven associate partners and 227 directors in total (with 37 new Directors in tax and legal). A further 850 other colleagues have also been promoted, while 700 graduates and apprentices have progressed following successful completion of their exams. An additional 47 partners were hired into the business in the last year.
Nick Roome, head of KPMG Law, said:
“This a tremendous achievement which only comes about after many years of hard work, perseverance, resilience and a focus on developing the skills needed to operate at partner level. To have four new partners in our KPMG Law business is testament to the efforts of each of these talented colleagues, but also the continued success and growth of the KPMG Law business”
“KPMG Law is currently on an exciting journey to double in size by the end of 2024 and both nurturing and hiring top talent is a vital part of that plan.
“I congratulate the four new Partners and, like everyone in KPMG Law, cannot wait to work with them as part of our senior leadership team as we continue with our plans to grow.”
Of the 155 partner promotions and new hires, 59 are in KPMG UK’s consultancy practice, 33 in tax and legal, 30 in deal advisory, 23 in audit, and 10 in the firm’s central sales and services function. A third (33%) of these new partners are women, 19% are from an ethnic minority background and 27% are from a low socio-economic background.
The firm has significantly grown its partnership in the past year, reflecting strong demand from its clients. KPMG UK now has 781 partners, comprising of 502 equity partners and 279 salaried partners.
Jon Holt, Chief Executive of KPMG in the UK, said:
“I’m delighted to recognise the hard work and talent of our people through these promotions. The breadth of our expertise enables our firm to support our clients with their most complex challenges, which is more important than ever in the current economic and geopolitical climate.”
These promotions and hires span the full breadth of services provided by the firm, underpinned by the successful growth of the business and increased client demand over the last 12 months.