Partnership disputes

Disputes between partners (and members of limited liability partnerships) are invariably highly personal, with reputations and careers often at stake. The team at Pannone are very sensitive to these issues whilst providing robust, practical and commercial advice.

We regularly advise both remaining and departing partners in professional partnerships; including accountants, surveyors and solicitors. We use mediation as a particularly effective tool to achieve sensible and cost effective resolutions as early as possible. Mediation has the added benefit of being a confidential process.

We also work with specialists in our Corporate and Commercial teams to draft, update and revise existing partnership agreements and/or settlement agreements ensuring a complete service to clients.

Two partners in our team are members of the Association of Partnership Practitioners, a multi-disciplinary organisation of specialist practitioners in partnership law. Within the team, we also have niche experience of disputes involving medical practitioner partnerships, particularly dentists and GPs. This is an area in which we are seeing a steady increase in the number of disputes which often require careful and considered liaison with the Primary Care Trusts. Those partnerships, and professional partnerships such as solicitors, architects and accountants form a large part of our practice.

Click here for further information on Partnership Laws.

Our experience

Recent cases include:

• Acting for an individual involved in a dispute regarding his status with a firm of solicitors with whom he had a business arrangement. The claim resulted in a key decision in partnership law: M Young Legal Associates Limited v Zahid Solicitors and Others [2006] EWCA Civ 613.
• Acting for several partners in a chartered surveyors' partnership in relation to a substantial and long running dispute over the partnership accounts.
• Acting for a practice of chartered surveyors in relation to a dispute with a former partner which included a claim for damages in respect of an undisclosed profit on a private investment. We obtained a favourable settlement for our client.
• Acting for a partner in a firm of commercial solicitors who had been expelled from the partnership. We secured a very favourable pay out for our client.
• Acting for a dentist in a breach of contract dispute between him and his primary care trust in relation to dental practice funding.
• Acting for a dentist in a partnership dispute with his fellow partners over an alleged notice of expulsion. The dispute settled on favourable terms at a very early stage.
• Acting for a GP and partner who was allegedly expelled from the partnership. It was eventually accepted by the other side that the expulsion was invalid and favourable retirement terms were agreed for our client.
• Acting for a high profile architect in a partnership dispute with his founding partner. The dispute included various intellectual property issues and was successfully resolved without the need for court proceedings.
• Acting for an accountancy practice in a dispute concerning an alleged invalid expulsion of one member of the practice. The dispute concerns allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation and negligence as well as a claim for unfair prejudice against the minority member.

We will always remember that partnership disputes require sensitive handling and our approach to client service is as important as our understanding of the law.

To speak with a member of our team specialising in partnership disputes, please call 0844 980 1437 or send an email.