World Services Group
 |
|
| Industry | Association, Network |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Stephen J. McGarry |
| Headquarters | Houston, Texas |
|
Area served
|
Global |
|
Key people
|
Gary Assim (Chairman) Robert Falvey (Global Ambassador) Maricarmen Trujillo (Chief Operating Officer) Jessica Ferdinand (Chief Marketing Officer) |
| Services | Multidisciplinary Network Legal Investment banking Accounting |
| Website | www.worldservicesgroup.com |
WSG, also branded as World Services Group, is a multidisciplinary professional services network of independent law, accounting and investment banking firms. It ranks as one of the largest among the more than 200 professional services networks in the world. WSG members are independent law, accounting and investment banking firms. According to the organization's website as of 2016[update], WSG was formed in 2002 as a multidisciplinary network with the objective of bringing together professionals in a professional services network that creates business opportunities and relationships to better service their clients globally. Its members have more than 19,000 professionals in more than 115 countries in almost 400 offices. Its global headquarters are located in the Houston, Texas,
Multidisciplinary professional services networks were an important phenomenon in the late 1990s and early part of 2000. The Big 4 accounting firms were creating their own multidisciplinary networks by acquiring legal departments. Their objective was to share fees with the lawyers in the network. The shear potential of these potentially massive networks threatened independent law firms and questioned the whether or not it was a violation of the rules of legal ethics prohibiting fee sharing with non-lawyers. After the fall of Enron, it became clear that a law firm controlled by an accounting firm and providing services to a common client contained an inherent conflict of interest. This led to the passage of Sarbanes–Oxley effectively prohibiting accounting firms from providing legal services through a controlled law firm. However, independent law and accounting firms creating networks in which no facilities and client profits were shared remained permissible allowing a number of networks to take advantage of the availability of this exception for multidisciplinary networks. They included MSI Global AllianceMorison International, the Geneva Group and World Services Group.
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