Partnership & Shareholder

Fiona has extensive expertise in resolving disputes between business partners and shareholders in a variety of sectors including Banking & Finance, Healthcare, ICT, Retail and Professional services.  Cases have been between founders/owners, directors, partners and involved family members in business together with disputes covering commercial/business, corporate governance and relationship issues. Fiona has also mediated several breakdowns in GP practice partnerships. Disputes have also included breakdowns in ‘strategic partnerships’ and ‘joint ventures’ as well as businesses in the private, public and voluntary sectors.

Reconciliations achieved in partnership mediations have resulted in different and revised working arrangements e.g. redeployment from Executive Director to part time Non-Executive Chairman, or parties have agreed to new or modified business plans.

Fiona has also mediated cases where partnership dissolution or the details of partnership break up have been agreed including the following issues:

• Tax, CGT, Pensions implications, Split of assets / investments / equity.
• Personal, legal and financial liabilities of departing partners.
• Buy out agreements and exit plans between partners.

Mediation examples

• Family business relationship breakdown between two brothers who owned the business caused by tensions arising from different strategic visions. Amicable break-up of the business achieved, with both brothers setting up separate entities to service agreed geographic regions.
• Partnership dispute between brothers on the future strategic direction and product development in jointly owned family health care business.
• Mediated dispute over broken partnership arrangements, withdrawal of financial arrangements and intellectual property in ICT sector.
• Buy out between former business and common law partners in the leisure industry.
• Dispute following takeover of a professional firms by another over misleading accounts, client records, terms of takeover and business loss.
• Reconciliation between senior individuals in a major and reputable national partnership, following serious and distressing incident of a sexual nature between them.
• Mediated highly adversarial and antagonistic employment and partnership dispute re the distribution of capital assets involving a Partner GP terminated after 12 years.
• Dispute between family members re loans and outstanding debts with major breakdowns of relationships.
• Mediated several cases involving break ups of GP practices.