Business Law

Corporate and Commercial: What is due diligence in the context of a business sale? When selling a business, there is no legal requirements for the seller to disclose any issues or liabilities to the buyer. The buyer can ask questions and request information about the business, which is known as due diligence and forms an important part of the process of buying a business.The answers and information provided by the…

Debt Recovery: Someone is threatening to bankrupt me, what should I do? First – do you admit owing the money? If not, then get in touch because where there is a “genuine dispute” as to a debt, a creditor cannot make someone bankrupt (or liquidate a company). However, if you receive any formal documents then there are very strict time limits for responding so don’t delay.If you admit owing the…

Debt Recovery: Someone can’t pay me – can I bankrupt them? The short answer is yes – but only where there isn’t a dispute as to the debt; and there is still a process to follow.You should also consider if bankruptcy is likely to get you paid at a proportionate cost, other options are available. Our debt recovery team can provide you with details of all of the options and…

The legal process to wind up a limited company may seem as a straight-forward technical process.

A written partnership agreement is the governing document which sets out what you can and can’t do, and how to do it. If you don’t follow those terms you will be in breach, regardless of how bad the other partner’s conduct was.

Unless otherwise agreed, partnership assets can only be used for the business of that partnership.

Business Dispute: My business partner has signed us up to a contract I don’t agree with. Are we bound by it? Probably yes – a partner has the ability to bind the entire firm.However, if you think the contract shouldn’t have been entered into – or you have a written partnership agreement which would limit the ability to enter into contracts of a certain value unilaterally – you might have…

Business Dispute: Should I have a written partnership agreement? Yes. In the absence of a written agreement there’s the risk of argument as to what was agreed between the partners, and the law can impose things which you would otherwise never have intended.The costs of trying to fix a problem will be significantly more expensive than having a proper agreement in place at the outset to minimise the risks of…

Business Dispute: What types of company disputes do you deal with? We deal with a wide spectrum of business disputes, including:- Director disputes- Breach of director duties- Shareholder duties- Breach of shareholder agreements- Unfair prejudice petitions- Minority shareholder protection- Conflicts of interest- Insolvency disputes- LLP and partnership disputes

Business Dispute: What should I do if I am a director or shareholder in dispute? It is important that you take expert advice at the earliest opportunity. Taking no action could be construed as agreeing to the action taken by the other parties involved, or there may be specific time limits to take action. It is important to seek advice at the earliest opportunity.