World Services Group

World Services Group

Industry	Association, Network
Founded	2002
Founder	Stephen J. McGarry
Headquarters	Houston, Texas
Area served	Global
Key people	Sergio Michelsen (Chairman) Stephen McGarry (President) Maricarmen Trujillo (Vice President)
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 2013, 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 100 countries in almost 400 offices. Its global headquarters are located in the Houston, Texas,^[1]

History

Multidisciplinary professional services networks were an important phenomenon in the late 1990s and early part of 2000.^[2] 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.^[3] 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 lead 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^[4] allowing a number of networks to take advantage of the availability of this exception for multidisciplinary networks.^[5] They included MSI Global Alliance^[6] Morison International,^[7] the Geneva Group^[8] and World Services Group.^[9]

Focus Today 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.^[10] 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.^[11] WSG is governed by a board of directors consisting 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.

Officers

• Sergio Michelsen- Chair
• Robert Falvey - Chair-Elect
• Gary Assim - Secretary
• Corina Bove – Treasurer
• Brad Kaplan – Chair Emeritus
• Stephen McGarry – President
• Maricarmen Trujillo - Vice President

Directors

The 16 directors are representative of their regions.

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,^[12] Members regularly rank in Chambers and Partners,^[13] Super Lawyers,^[14] Best Lawyers,^[15] Legal 500,^[16] International Financial Law Review 1000^[17] and other rating organizations

Africa and Middle East

Region consists on 16 member countries with over 450 professionals. The regional council chair is Rand Hannun of Nabulsi & Associates law firm in Jordan.

Asia Pacific

Region has the largest firms in the region as members including the China-based Dacheng Law Offices^[18] with approximately 1,600 attorneys across 42 offices and Minter Ellison with 1,500 attorneys in 9 offices. The regional council chair is Putri Noor Shariza Noordin of Shearn Delamore ^[19] in Malaysia.

Caribbean

Region consists of firms in 9 countries with over 150 professionals. The regional council is headed by Judith Whitehead of Graham Thompson the largest law firm in Bahamas.

Europe

Region consists of firms in 43 countries with over 6,000 professionals. It is the largest network after the Big 4 accounting networks The regional council is headed by Alexander Zharskiy of Alrud Law Firm Alrud Law one of the largest law firms in the country..

Latin America

The Latin America region has 25 members with over 1,400 professionals. Its regional council is led by Jose E. Quiñones of Quiñones, Ibarguen, Lujan & Mata, S.C.^[20] one of the largest law firms in the country.

N. America

The North American region has 26 members with over 6,000 professionals. Its regional council is led by David A. Allard of Lawson Lundell LLP ^[21]

Representative members

See also

• Umbrella organization
• Business networking
• Organizational Studies
• Professional services networks
• Multidisciplinary professional services networks
• Law firm network
• Accounting networks and associations

References

External links

• Official website