BLP, RPC and Richards Butler set to join LLP club by May 2006

Berwin Leighton Paisner, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain and Richards Butler are gearing up to convert to limited liability partnership (LLP) status by May 2006, The Lawyer can reveal.

The three firms are part of a concerted push to LLP status as firms seek to limit exposure to major negligence claims such as Ernst & Young and Equitable Life.

Only four firms in the top 50 have said that they are not actively considering conversion at this stage - Ince & Co, Olswang, Salans and Simmons & Simmons.

Beachcroft Wansbroughs, Denton Wilde Sapte, Lovells and Norton Rose will vote on conversion in winter 2005 and early 2006, with a view to making the change in 2006 or 2007.

Ince partner David Steward said: "I think it's, just at the moment, not on our radar."

The Lawyer has surveyed all of the top UK 50 law firms on what their current stance is on making the change. Of the top 50, 14 firms have already converted to LLP status, with Cobbetts and Hill Dickinson ready to make the shift on 1 November.

While the date has not been definitively set, Addleshaw Goddard is also aiming for conversion on 1 May 2006. Clyde & Co is another of the 23 firms examining the possibilities of conversion.

Legal advice on conversion is often handled in-house, but Allen & Overy (A&O) - which has a well-known partnership law practice under the leadership of Richard Turnor - and Serle Court barrister John Machell have advised several firms.

In May 2004, A&O became the first large international law firm to convert to an LLP, and since then Turnor has been actively marketing his practice to other solicitors.

He said that the risk taken on by a law firm makes limiting liability the best model. However, Turnor said that tax and regulation still complicate conversion for a large international practice. "It's like stuffing an octopus into a bucket, but it's doable," he said.

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw partnership law partner Richard Linsell said LLPs will also help recruitment.