Business Dispute Resolution

Regardless of how well a contract is drafted, inevitably disputes will sometimes arise as to the terms of a contract. Our specialist team can assist when business disputes arise, including:

  • Disputes regarding commercial contracts or terms and conditions;
  • Shareholder disputes;
  • Unpaid debt;
  • Partnership disputes;
  • Commercial landlord and tenant disputes (link).

Our team will assist you to resolve the dispute whilst providing clear advice to enable a decision to be made in light of the risks from both a practical and costs perspective.

Our approach is to achieve not only the best result for our clients, but in the most cost effective way possible and as quickly as possible.

We encourage mediation and other methods of resolving disputes out of court as a way to reduce the legal costs, but also without the publicity of a court battle.

Inevitably some cases will involve court action. In these cases we will present your case firmly and robustly, to achieve the best outcome for your business.

  • Mediation is when the parties to a dispute sit down to discuss the issues in dispute in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The parties are assisted by a trained impartial mediator. Mediations can be held using various different methods but the most common is a shuttle mediation where the parties and their legal advisors are in separate rooms and the mediator moves between the parties relaying information that is shared and trying to encourage the parties to reach an agreement in order to resolve the dispute.

  • A Part 36 offer is an offer made in legal proceedings by either the claimant or the defendant in order to settle the proceedings. Part 36 offers can be tactical and can be a very powerful tool for negotiation. Part 36 offers made by a party put the receiving party at risk in relation to costs and should therefore be seriously considered before being accepted or rejected. Part 36 offers are governed by Part 36 of the CPR rules and the offer must comply with the provisions of Part 36 in order to be a valid Part 36 offer.

  • This would depend upon the reasons why the other directors are trying to remove the particular director. Consideration should be given to whether that director has any shares in the company and also how many directors there so that consideration can be given as to what board resolutions are likely to be passed. Consideration should be given as to whether there is a directors service agreement in place with which the director in question and also the company must comply, and consideration must also be given to any relevant provisions in the company’s articles of association. The articles of association may contain specific provisions in relation to the remove of a director. If there are no relevant provisions in either the articles of association or the Companies Act 2006, a director can be removed by ordinary resolution under Section 168 of the Companies Act 2006 or by Court order. Consideration must also be given to any shareholders agreement that may be in place if the director is also a shareholder of the company.

For further information or to speak to one of our experts, please get in touch