'Change can appear to be the enemy of stability' — When a historic law firm becomes an LLP

Murray Beith Murray chairman, Andrew Paterson, on the significance of becoming a limited liability partnership.

For any firm that has been around for 175 years, change can appear to be the enemy of stability. But the truth is actually the opposite: the ability to adapt is what allows institutions not only to endure but to thrive.

Becoming an LLP does not and will not alter who Murray Beith Murray are or how we work.

Murray Beith Murray’s decision to become a limited liability partnership (LLP) may seem, on the face of it, a technical one. To the layman, the addition of some extra letters after our name will seem insignificant. And certainly, our clients – many of whom have been with us for several generations – will notice no change in the high quality of service for which we are renowned. 

But Murray Beith Murray’s decision to become an LLP is nevertheless significant. It represents the quiet modernisation of a firm that has served generations of families, estates and entrepreneurs. Becoming an LLP brings us into line with most of our peers, offering the right protections for partners and the right framework for the future. Ultimately, it is about stewardship – ensuring that those who come after us inherit a stronger, more resilient business that will continue to grow and thrive for the next 175 years and beyond.

After all, we live in an age when even the most traditional professions are being reshaped by technology, regulation and increasing competition. Artificial intelligence will transform the delivery of legal advice, while clients increasingly look for the same digital ease they experience elsewhere in their lives. Yet amid all this change, the one constant remains: trust. Private client work, by its nature, depends on it – trust between generations, between individuals and their advisers, between a client’s private world and the law that protects it.

Becoming an LLP does not and will not alter who Murray Beith Murray are or how we work. It does, however, underline that modern governance and traditional service can co-exist. Indeed, they must. To preserve discretion, independence and integrity in the modern world, firms like ours have to evolve. As our latest accounts show, the past is not a constraint, but it is a fundamental foundation of our work.

For Murray Beith Murray, the move to LLP status is therefore not an end in itself but part of a continuing story – of adaptation, stewardship and quiet confidence in the enduring importance of personal and trusted service. After all, if 175 years have taught us anything, it is that change, handled well, is the surest route to continuity.