Accounting firm KPMG says it is to stop providing legal services and will cut its ties to law practices in 60 countries.
Mr Gavin Houlgate, head of corporate communications for KPMG in Britain, said today the move would leave KPMG focusing on audit, tax and advisory services.
He said changing regulations around the world - including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States - had made it difficult to provide non-audit services to its audit clients.
KPMG's network of member firms covers 150 countries, but it only provides legal services in 60 of them, as many countries, including the United States, do not allow companies to provide audit and non-audit services to the same client.
Although KPMG does not provide legal services in the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act bans accounting firms from supplying legal services to audit clients and affects foreign companies with US listings.