Partners in LLPs to enjoy protection from activists

Lawyers working in limited liability partnerships (LLPs) under threat from animal rights activists, anarchists and other mavericks, will be protected by anonymity provisions to be introduced by the government.

Following lobbying by the Law Society, members of LLPs will be included under a provision the government added to the Criminal Justice and Police Bill in March which permits company directors to apply for a confidentiality order removing their addresses from the Companies House Register.The move follows attacks on the directors of Huntingdon Life Sciences, the controversial animal testing laboratory in Cambridgshire.Government whip Lord Davies of Oldham announced last week that regulations under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 would be extended to allow members of LLPs to apply for confidentiality orders.

The government intends to pass the Bill before the election.Jeremy Fleming