I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. For what? For
the results of Legal
Week‘s survey of
the intentions of the top 50 UK firms regarding conversion to
LLP status to come true:
- 14 of the top 50 have already converted;
- 28 of the remainder either have firm plans to do so or have
it "under review;" and - only 3 report they have "no plans" to do so.
Why does this matter?
Let’s separate cause from effect. The cause of the wholesale
conversion is, as would be the case in the US, to avoid "Armageddon
[personal] liability" for partners in a firm hypothetically
sued for massive malpractice—or for minor malpractice with
massive financial consequences to others. Younger partners,
in particular, so it is reported (perhaps having grown up in a
more litigious world—I speculate), are beating the drums for conversion.
The effect, however, is what has my blood racing: UK LLP’s
are required to publish independently audited financials which,
among other things, will show how much individual partners are
making. (This
is, alas, not so in the US—an unfortunate lacuna in our British
law inheritance.) As the FT drily puts
it, "solicitors have
been reluctant to divulge such details."
As previously
reported, Allen & Overy has led the way, with as
pithy and compelling a justification as one could wish for: They
did it
"to be taken seriously as a modern, competent business." Attention,
all you gaming the numbers: Time’s up!
