Vicky Topps, who returns after 14 years, has taken on the role as Director in KPMG Law’s Tax Disputes team, and plans to use the knowledge and skills spent working at HMRC to help a wide range of firms of all shapes and sizes.

Her most recent role at HMRC saw Vicky acting as deputy director overseeing the Large Business Midlands region, looking after the compliance affairs of 340 of the UK’s top 2000 businesses.

This work ranged from listed entities and household names to large privately owned groups, including utilities, companies, breweries, pharma companies, construction companies, transport and logistics.

Vicky was drawn back to KPMG UK because the tax disputes team at KPMG Law (2023 winner of Tolley’s Tax Awards for Best Tax Disputes team) have a great track record for dispute resolution.

She said: “I was interested in working as part of a multidisciplinary team, which includes some dispute people with tax backgrounds, but also those with legal skills, and who have together been recognised for being ahead of the pack.

“The team are committed to growing the practice in early dispute resolution and advocating alternative dispute resolution as a tool to resolve issues through our mediators here.”

She thinks these approaches will help KPMG Law clients get to certainty and resolution without tying up resources, and ‘hopefully come up with an outcome that's compliant and allows streamlining and fast tracking’.

This latest appointment comes as part of ongoing expansion plans that are a critical element of KPMG UK’s £300 million growth strategy, driven by its Chief Executive Jon Holt, to support the long-term growth and fundamental transformation of its UK business.

The continued commitment to invest in KPMG Law recognises how important quality integrated legal services are to the firm’s client base and the importance of the UK market to KPMG Global Legal Services’ growth strategy.

Stuart Bedford, head of KPMG Law in the UK, said: “It’s an exciting time to be at KPMG Law; not only as part of the rapidly growing and evolving UK Legal Services market, but also as we look forward to the opportunities Generative AI brings to the legal profession, ourselves, and our clients.

“As we transform the ways we deliver trusted legal advice to clients, our people will continue to be our differentiator.

“There has never been a more critical time to ensure we focus on growing our business with high-calibre lawyers who see the advantages of our ‘Law plus’ model, which enables us to leverage the expertise of our colleagues in Tax, Consulting, and Deal Advisory to help create business solutions to legal challenges.”