Record year heralds Bircham LLP switch

Bircham Dyson Bell is to convert to a limited-liability partnership (LLP) in December following a record year for turnover, led by a boom in its projects practice.

Bircham, which has ambitions to become a top 50 UK firm, broke the £30m turnover barrier for the first time in 2005-06, due in part to its major projects group securing a slew of headline-grabbing instructions.

Managing partner Guy Vincent said: "There's been a growing trend over the past few years for the legal sector to convert to LLP [and] this move provides the partners of the firm, and the business as a whole, with the protection of limited liability."

The announcement comes as the major projects group, led by partner Robbie Owen, continues its aggressive expansion campaign, recruiting three assistants to cope with the explosion in projects work.

In the past year the firm has cemented panel places with English Heritage and the London Development Agency. It has also represented more than 100 of the 300 petitioners on the Crossrail project, and had tender wins for the Docklands Light Railway, Mid Kent Water and Transport for London.