During the challenging economic conditions of the last few years many law firms have adopted new management structures, with the change to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) proving particularly popular. An LLP allows lawyers to share ownership of their firm whilst ensuring that no partner is liable to any creditor of the firm. Furthermore, it also ensures that no partner is liable for the negligence of another. This kind of protection is understandably appealing; the only downside is that there are more administrative duties to be taken care of than in the straightforward traditional Partnership set up.
The shift towards LLP structures is not the only commercial trend sweeping UK law firms. In recent years many firms have also recruited chief executives and business development managers from non-legal backgrounds in a bid to push for growth and boost profits. As our last blog suggested, there is a widespread belief that bringing in individuals with commercial rather than legal experience will help firms operate more profitably in the future. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this trend to see whether coming from a non-legal background really does prove to be advantageous for this new wave of chief executives.