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, WSG was formed in 2002 as a multidisciplinary network. 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,
History
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 Alliott Group, MSI Global Alliance Morison International, the Geneva Group and World Services Group. In 2010, the board made the decision focus on three services: legal, accounting and investment banking/financial services.
A technical platform
Different from traditional networks in the industry, WSG's development centered on a technical platform to provide multi-tier networking capabilities. This allows the building of relationships and the maintenance, growth and interaction of members. The proprietary technology permits individual professionals to access each other, communicate, develop relationships, and establish internal preferences. Additionally, the systems content is individualized for each professional. The result is a database of 12,000 professionals at the member firms who can be identified by any terms within their profiles. WSG is one of the first global transparent networks of professionals that can be accessed for both their location, their expertise and experience challenging the industry to keep up with current advances.
Corporate governance
WSG is a global professional services network of independent firms who represent their own individual client. In WSG, like most of these organizations member firms are individually evaluated and selected. WSG is governed by a board of directorsconsisting of representatives from each region and from the various services that the members provide. WSG operates and is managed by a staff of eight professionals in the US. From 2001 - 2004, Kimberly Jones served as the network's first Director of Marketing and Communications and was instrumental in startup functions, member firms recruitment, financial management, and executive assistant to the Board of Directors.
The directors are representative of their industry and regions.
Andre Vautour
Hunter Rost
Pedro Aguiar de Freitas
Yvon Dreano
Adam Handley
Stefan Erhag
Rand Hannun, Adv.
Koos Pretorius
Jeffrey M. Jones
Putri Noor Shariza Noordin
Yukuo Takenaka
Global structure
WSG is divided into six regions: Africa and Middle East, Asia Pacific, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Each region has a regional council consisting of six WSG member representatives. All WSG members are recognized as leading independent firms in their region by the top ranking publications and awards including, Members regularly rank in Chambers and Partners, Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Legal 500, International Financial Law Review 1000 and other rating organizations
Africa and Middle East
Region consists of 16 member countries with over 600 professionals. There is currently no regional council chair.
Asia Pacific
Region consists of 21 member countries with over 1300 professionals. The regional council chair is Rebecca Silli of MinterEllison in China.
Caribbean
Region consists of firms in 8 countries with over 150 professionals. The regional council is headed by Judith Whitehead of the largest law firm in Bahamas.
Europe
Region has 44 members with over 6,000 professionals. It is the largest network after the Big 4 accounting networks The regional council is headed by Dirk W. Kolvenbach of Heuking Kuhn Luer Wojtek one of the largest law firms in the country.
Latin America
The Latin America region has 21 members with over 1,400 professionals. Its regional council is led by Ramon Ignacio Moyano of Estudio Beccar Varela one of the largest law firms in the country.
