A third of the top 100 law firms in the UK could convert to limited liability partnership (LLP) status in the next year, according to a poll of lawyers attending a seminar on the structure in London last week.

In a poll of representatives from 80 of the largest 100 firms, 30% said that they were likely to adopt LLP status in the next year.

Five of the top 100 firms by size are currently LLPs, while City giant Allen & Overy recently announced it is to convert.

Trevor Moss, director of professional indemnity insurance broker Alexander Forbes, which organised the seminar, said: 'This looks likely to be remembered as the year of the LLP.

The majority of top firms are clearly now taking steps to limit their liability in some areas of their practice and a good third of the top 100 firms looks likely to convert to LLP status within the next 12 months.'

He said that structures are being developed 'which will enable firms to benefit from LLP status even when they operate on a multi-jurisdictional basis'.

Richard Kemp, a founding partner of Kemp Little - which in 2001 became one of the first law firms to become an LLP - said: 'We did it pre-Enron and pre-11 September [2001].

One of the reasons large firms will be looking to do it now is because they genuinely want to manage their risk.

'It shelters the individual partners from liability and, if you contract with suppliers, individual liability is not engaged.

In more risk averse, compensation-orientated and litigious times, large practices will increasingly come to adopt the LLP structure.'

Jeremy Fleming