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Shareholder & Partnership Agreements
Shareholder & Partnership Agreements
Shareholder & Partnership Agreements
We advise on the negotiation and drafting of shareholder agreements, joint venture arrangements and partnership agreements for clients across the UK and Gibraltar. These agreements matter because they set out clearly the rights, responsibilities and protections between business partners, co-founders, investors and other stakeholders.
Our work here covers governance and decision making, transfer restrictions, drag along and tag along rights, exit planning and the mechanisms for resolving disputes. We pay particular attention to aligning the legal structure with the commercial dynamics of the relationship, especially in early stage and investor backed ventures.
We support a wide range of structures, from limited companies and LLPs to family-owned investment vehicles and joint ventures involving several parties. Where it helps, we coordinate with tax and regulatory advisers so the arrangements are efficient, enforceable and fully compliant with the rules that apply in both the UK and Gibraltar.
Our focus is on clarity and on reducing risk, so each agreement reflects what the parties actually intended and keeps the business stable over the long term. We regularly act for founders, family offices, private investors and professional partnerships who want robust, commercially sound documentation.
A shareholder or partnership agreement sets out the rights, responsibilities and obligations of everyone involved in a business venture. We draft and negotiate these agreements so there is clarity on governance, decision making, how profits are shared, how disputes are handled and how parties exit. Documents like these protect both individual and collective interests and lower the risk of disputes in the future.
A well drafted shareholder agreement should deal with voting rights, board appointments, dividend policy, transfer restrictions, drag along and tag along rights, reserved matters, leaver provisions, and how disputes are resolved. We shape each agreement around the commercial dynamics and the expectations of the parties, particularly in investor backed and founder led ventures.
Yes. We advise on the structuring and documentation of joint ventures and other arrangements involving several parties, across a range of industries and jurisdictions. We work closely with clients to align the legal structure with their commercial objectives, dealing with governance, equity splits, exit provisions and any bespoke terms needed to balance control with flexibility.
Articles of association are public constitutional documents filed with the relevant company registry, whereas a shareholder agreement is a private contract between the shareholders (and often the company). Both govern how a company runs, but a shareholder agreement allows for more flexibility and confidentiality. We advise on how to align the two so they do not contradict each other and so both remain enforceable.
Yes. We draft and advise on partnership agreements and LLP agreements for professional firms, family investment structures and other ventures. These agreements govern management responsibilities, capital contributions, how profits are shared and succession, and we shape each one around the specific needs of the partners involved.
Yes. We regularly advise on preventing and resolving disputes between shareholders and partners. We build the right mechanisms into the governing agreements, such as deadlock provisions, mediation clauses and buy sell arrangements, and we can advise on negotiation strategy and legal remedies where a dispute has already arisen.