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Christmas can seem a pretty stressful time for all sorts of reasons. It’s not only about family and food and presents but usually also involves inevitable disagreements about who is going where and the “didn’t they come to us last year?” conversation.

Yet there’s also a little time to think about the business you’re involved in and the people you’re working with. And if you’re facing conflict with them or the trust has gone, it can seem very difficult.

You might recognise the feeling – . something that’s been niggling you for ages – there are odd sums going out of your business account – you can’t reconcile them!

You know how defensive your business partner can be and you just hope the problem will go away without having a confrontation.

The trouble is that often, business relationships start so well, yet the foundations for that business do not cater for future unforeseen eventualities and a failure to deal promptly with an issue that has arised can be potentially very harmful to both your relations and to the business itself. 

“We were best friends when we started our business – and now? I just hate him.”

Sadly, the above sentiment is one I often encounter. So, what can you do if you’ve fallen out with your business partner or fellow director?

Ironically, this is a scenario you probably never anticipated. When business relationships start out, it can be difficult to envisage things ever turning sour. Why would you expect and plan for the worst to happen? The start of a new business venture is an exciting and motivating time. More often than not, business relationships are forged out of a passion and a shared vision of what can be achieved.

Have you ever been in a position where you’ve discovered your business partner has their fingers in the till; syphoning off company money?

It’s a really painful, frustrating and unsettling situation to find yourself in. And you’re scared to confront your partner for fear of opening a whole “can of worms”.

Picture the scene. If one thing helped a ‘work from home’ mentality, it was the Covid pandemic; then we all worked from home, and many have never gone back.

Friends set up in business, or you’ve joined a business where you know the other directors well and, of course, it all seems great at first. Yet as time moves on, like in any relationship, things start to niggle away at you. Until one issue just seems irreconcilable.

It’s then that the rot can really set in and what was once a friendly relationship has truly broken down now.

You look at the bank online – someone in the business is syphoning off money from the business account. You then work out that it’s one of your once-trusted business partners. That feeling of betrayal is truly palpable. For any director of a company, that will be a hard pill to swallow. It can be […]

Starting a new business venture is an exciting time, yet like any relationship, the journey often presents challenges. In my work as a specialist barrister dealing with shareholder/director and partnership disputes, I often see problems that, with just a little bit more planning and forethought, could have easily been avoided.  The benefits of working in […]

Unfortunately, this is a familiar tale, and it’s often a deeply distressing and challenging time for all involved. Inevitably it will impact upon your business and its clients and customers and can have a devastating impact on staff and their moral. When the trust is gone, and an acrimonious atmosphere pervades, it’s hard to keep […]

Christmas gives us time to reflect. If your business relationship is going well, you might treat yourself to an extra mince pie. But if things are not going so well, you might find yourself asking questions like: ‘What am I doing this all for? Is it worth it? Is it time for change?”

GPT-4 may have beaten all other chatbots – it scored 75% in the bar exam and out-performed all other artificial intelligence models at legal reasoning – but read the small print, and you’ll see it’s still no match for real barristers according to ‘New Scientist’.

Whether you’ve just started a new venture with a friend or colleague or have been in business for years, trust will be at the core of your relationship; it is very much the glue that brings and holds that relationship and the business together.

Have you ever been in a position where you’ve discovered your business partner is ‘moonlighting’ behind your back? It’s not an easy place to come back from – trust is lost, reputations damaged and it can be the beginning of the end for many business relationships.

If you’re about to start a new business venture or you want to change your existing company structure, you might be wondering about what will work best for your specific situation.

When it comes to structuring your business there really isn’t ‘one size fits all’.

When business relationships start out it can be difficult to envisage things ever turning sour. Why would you expect and plan for the worst to happen? The start of a new business venture is an exciting and motivating time. More often than not, business relationships are forged out of a passion and a shared vision of what can be achieved.

It’s always a risk going into business with a friend, and that gut-wrenching feeling when you discover they have been cheating on you is really palpable. The good news is a route to resolution can generally be found even in the most strained of circumstances.

Andrew has spent almost 30 years working with clients navigating difficult shareholder and partnership disputes and I know that, all too often, those involved delay taking or turn to the wrong people for advice and live to regret it.

Maybe your business partner isn’t being completely transparent with the finances of the company. For many, the legal domain can be an intimidating one but it really doesn’t have to be.

Like an insurance policy, it’s something you pay for and then forget; hoping you’ll never need it. But, if a dispute should occur between you and your business partner and you need to dig out your shareholders’ agreement and you’ll want to know it’s well-written, up to date and deals with all the possible eventualities.

The good news is a route to resolving a business dispute can generally be found even in the most strained of circumstances. The success of this resolution will largely come down to what steps you take in the wake of the fallout and who you engage to assist with it.

When things go wrong between the partners or directors of a business, the red mist can descend and it’s the impossible to make rational decisions that will benefit any of those involved.

Getting expert specialist legal guidance is always the first step and below I explain in more detail how this might work for you.

If you’ve ever been in the position where you’ve been pushed out of your business by your business partner, you’ll know how painful and damaging it can be.

Whether you’ve just started a new venture with a friend or colleague or have been in business for years trust will be at the core of your relationship;

I am hosting a free online legal surgery which I hope to answer any queries you may have, as well as highlighting the options that are available and give some context and background to the legal process and what is involved when trying to resolve a shareholder or partnership dispute.

Have you ever been in the position where you’ve discovered your business partner is ‘moonlighting’ behind your back?

When it comes to structuring your business there really isn’t ‘one size fits all’.

It also isn’t a decision you should make in haste;

How do you know if your shareholders’ agreement is up to scratch?

For some, it may be a long time in coming, For others, it can arise quickly and even entirely out of the blue. But many people in business do, at some point, have to face the question: “Is it time to go our separate ways?”

There’s no denying it, going into business with other people can really pay off. It can offer up many benefits including a sharing of pressures and responsibilities, the opportunity to pool resources and the chance to combine skills, experience and talent.

Have you ever had an uneasy feeling at work that something isn’t quite right? Perhaps you have discovered that an unexplained sum of money has been leaving your company accounts on the same day each month.

Falling our with shareholders…It’s a scenario you probably never anticipated. When business relationships start out it can be difficult to envisage things ever turning sour. Why would you expect and plan for the worst to happen?

There’s no two ways around it, when business relationships start to break down challenging times lie ahead. If you are to resolve matters it is critical that you get experienced specialist legal advice from the outset.

Business relationships are seldom plain sailing but what do you do when those cracks start to deepen?