Firms given date for LLPs ;LIMITED LIABILITY: Key tax and regulatory guidance will be released within a month ;Law firms will be able to register as limited liability partnerships (LLPs) from 6 April 2001, the government has announced. ;Law firms will be able to register as limited liability partnerships (LLPs) from 6 April 2001, the government has announced. ;Partnership experts say that although key tax and regulatory guidance has not yet been published they are expected to be released within the next month law firms wanting to limit their liability should start planning now. ;Michael Mathews, chairman of the Law Societys LLPs working party, said firms must ask the question: Is it right for us? He added: The price you pay is the publicity about your financial arrangements. People who do decide to do it will need to get the technicalities right. ;Ronnie Fox, chairman of the Association of Partnership Practitioners and senior partner at City firm Fox Williams, agreed that the decision on the desirability of publishing results will be crucial. He added: I suspect that many will want to see who also goes for it. ;Among the other changes, LLPs must prepare accounts on a true and fair view basis; partnerships use a fair and equitable approach. ;In his pre-budget statement earlier this month, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, confirmed that LLPs would in general be treated for tax purposes as a partnership, rather than a company. ;Rowe & Maw partner Richard Linsell, another partnership law specialist, said: Firms will need to start preparing an LLP members agreement to be substituted for their current partnership agreement, and they need to prepare to transfer the whole of their business into the LLP. Thats really the huge one. Then they will have to plan for the dissolution of their partnership. ;Clifford Chance is already an LLP, by virtue of its merger with US firm Rogers & Wells, but it is not required to publish accounts under the US LLP laws. ;Anne Mizzi ; ; ;