Shareholder & Partnership Disputes

A dispute between business owners is just as personal and as acrimonious as any divorce, because it involves the breakdown of a relationship. If you take legal advice early, independent mediation may be enough to resolve your problems. We can help with this or instead, we’ll help you assess whether there’s a potential solution or whether the relationship should be brought to an end. 3PB shareholder and partnership disputes barristers work to find a quick and amicable resolution or if needs be, to fight your case and get a great result in court.

Shareholders have a number of statutory and contractual rights. We always look to see if the dispute can be resolved by asserting one of those rights and always consider those rights to determine whether there has been a breach by the majority and/or the minority. We then seek to resolve the dispute depending on the facts. Minority shareholders have other rights against the majority and there are various claims that they may be able to pursue to include a derivative action; a just and equitable winding up and/or an unfair prejudice petition. Our specialist barristers can quickly assist you and we regularly advise both minority and majority shareholders.

There are an increasing number of shareholder and partnership disputes amongst partners and these often occur when a partnership is looking to recruit, downsize or retire an older partner. Increasingly partners might want to shift the focus of the business, make changes or expel a partner for poor conduct or performance. These are all sensitive issues that need careful handling. Our specialist barristers advise both remaining and departing partners in professional partnerships including general medical and veterinary practitioners, dentists, teachers, accountants, solicitors and architects. We have a proven track record of success in expulsion, breach of fiduciary duty, winding up, dissolution and actions for accounts.