Business partnership disputes can cause significant damage to a company, affecting everything from the bottom line, to a brand’s image, to the company’s reputation as a whole and its relationship with other businesses. These disputes can escalate to the point where one partner tries to “freeze out” another partner, surreptitiously deprive one partner of the benefits of the partnership, or even expel the partner from the partnership. Facing a dispute with other members of the partnership, a partner should seek prompt legal advice from experienced practitioners to determine the partner’s rights and obligations. If litigation becomes necessary, it will need to be handled deftly and with an eye towards the partner’s ultimate goal. If not handled tactfully, litigation between business partners can destroy the economic value the partners have worked for years to create.

Partnerships involving family members can become even more fraught when things go wrong. When partners in a family business disagree on the direction of the company, when a major downturn or setback threatens their livelihood, or when some of the partners decide it’s time to leave or wind down the business, disputes that might be manageable problems in any other partnership can quickly become highly emotional and acrimonious. Family businesses or companies run by very close friends might not have adhered strictly to all the corporate formalities. Agreements or decisions that would have been put in writing if made with non-family-partners might have instead only been discussed verbally between family member-partners, with a hug or a handshake to mark the agreement. If critical agreements or decisions weren’t put in writing, disputes are at best, a memory test, and at worst, devolve into arguments about who is being honest and who isn’t.

In either scenario, experienced counsel is necessary to protect the partner’s interests. Our lawyers have successfully handled some of the most acrimonious and difficult family partnership disputes.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

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• Represented plaintiffs in a family real estate partnership dissolution worth over $225 million.  Confidential settlement.