Limited Liability Partnerships (Amendment) Regulations 2007

Those of you who have been in your Lordships' House for some time will realise that you cannot take the lawyer out of the lawyer. As someone who has not practised law for the past 12 years, I cannot help but draw to the Minister's attention that limited liability partnerships existed long before the legislation brought in by this Government. It is of course correct that the use of limited liability partnerships has occurred substantially since the passing of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000, which as the Minister said was designed to make it easier for organisations to become limited liability partnerships, having the advantage of limited liability while organising themselves without the pressure of having to comply with Table A and all the other internal corporate regulations. He is right to say that, given the large number of limited liability partnerships that have been formed since 2000 and given the significant size of a number of those organisations, it is appropriate that steps should be taken to enable powers that exist vis-à-vis companies wherever appropriate also to apply to limited liability partnerships. With apology for the legal lecture, I support the regulations.