We've just received and sent out the excellent slides which accompanied the presentation by DBT/Companies House at the Conference.
If you attended the Conference and haven't received them, please check your spam filter - and if they aren't there, please email me at elspeth.berry@ntu.ac.uk.
Best wishes
Elspeth
As many Forum members know, this conference provides a unique opportunity for those practising in, researching, teaching or otherwise with an interest in partnership or LLP law, practice or policy, or related areas such as corporate law, employment, tax, and financial crime, to hear papers from leading practitioners, academics and policymakers. It is always an interesting, enjoyable and inclusive event, as demonstrated the number of delegates who return each year.
Advance registration is required. But, in order to save me from acquiring any more grey hairs, please don't leave registration until the last moment (deadline 3 September), as we need to know numbers for catering and other logistical reasons.
Please do also forward the link to your contacts and networks.
Best wishes, and look forward to seeing you there!
I've recently published an article on 'The True Nature of the LLP: Quasi-Partnership or Quasi-Company?' (2025) 1 JBL 54-89.
As with Lida's article, about which I have just posted, it is available on Westlaw, but if anyone does not have access to that database, please let me know and I'll send you a copy!
Elspeth
Dr Lida Pitsillidou, whose paper on the subject some of you will remember from a previous Conference, has just published 'Derivative Actions and LLPs: The Need for Reform' (2025) 2 JBL 123-143.
It is available on Westlaw, but if anyone does not have access to that database, please let me know and I'll if I can get you a copy!
Elspeth
The 1st Supplement was published in November 2024.
It is a substantial supplement, at over 300 pages, of which over 200 are substantive text. It is presented in the same order and format as the original edition, and the updated replacement paragraphs and footnotes are set out in full and clearly cross referenced to the originals.
The Supplement covers (amongst many other matters) recent judgment on the Syers v Syers jurisdiction (Bahia v Sidhu and Cobden v Cobden), estoppel (Merryman v Merryman and Winter v Winter), and whether a partner can be a worker (Watson v Wallwork Nelson Johnson). Its Preface also includes a brief summary of important judgments which were given too late to be included in the main body of the Supplement.
Anyone involved in writing on ECCTA 2024 or considering how and when to respond to its provisions will sympathise with the editor's difficulties arising from DBT's late announcement that the provisions on limited partnerships would not be brought into force until 2026. This announcement was made only after the editor had already written the necessary revisions on limited partnerships, but the decision was taken to defer publishing these revisions (as discussed in the Preface to the Supplement).
Please do put this date in your diary - it is always an interesting and enjoyable event, and it would be great to see as many of you there as possible.
A formal Call for Papers will be issued in due course, but if you have proposals (or requests) for topics/speakers, please email me at elspeth.berry@ntu.ac.uk.
Thank you - and best wishes for the festive season!
Elspeth Berry
Transparency International Ireland has just published a report on Weak Links: Irish Corporate Structures and Illicit Financial Flows, which contains a chapter on Irish LPs (authored by Elspeth Berry). Irish LPs are governed by a version of the 1907 Act which is almost identical to the pre-ECCTA version of the same Act in the UK.
The other chapters of the report discuss issues which also have parallels in the UK.
The report is available at:
https://transparency.ie/news_events/weak-links-facilitating-illicit-finance.
Law firm Foot Anstey has published a short piece on this topic - at
https://www.footanstey.com/our-insights/articles-news/unravelling-farming-partnerships-has-your-farm-inadvertently-become-a-shared-partnership-asset/.
DBT has provided an update on the implementation of ECCTA, with a timetable going all the way up to the end of 2026.
However, they say:
'It is not currently possible to set a firm timetable for implementation of all measures as some require secondary legislation. Around 50 statutory instruments will be commenced over 18 months with implementation activity and transitional periods continuing until completion in 2027. Timelines are dependent on suitable Parliamentary time in both houses and will be kept under review.'
The update is at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house/economic-crime-and-corporate-transparency-act-outline-transition-plan-for-companies-house#implementation