Partner, Founder & Shareholder Disputes
A dispute inside a business is different from an ordinary disagreement between unrelated companies. The parties may still own the same company, manage the same employees, share obligations and depend on each other for decisions.
When trust breaks down, routine issues can become difficult: who has authority, who contributes what, how money is used, how decisions are made, whether someone should leave and what happens to the business if they do.
Mediation, and in appropriate cases arbitration, can provide a structured way to address the dispute before it takes over the business.
Call 054-2591002
Common issues
- management roles and authority;
- decision-making and deadlock;
- additional investment or funding;
- salary, withdrawals and distributions;
- differing contributions to the business;
- entry or exit of a partner;
- valuation and buyout arrangements;
- voting and control;
- founder or shareholder agreements;
- customers, employees, data and intellectual property after separation;
- continuing obligations after exit.
Not every dispute has to end the relationship
One of the first questions is whether the parties want to continue working together.
If they do, a mediated agreement can address governance, roles, reporting, compensation, decision-making, funding and future dispute-resolution mechanisms.
If the relationship cannot continue, the process can focus on an orderly separation, including buyout terms, transfer of assets or activities, customer and IP arrangements, transition periods and remaining obligations.
The objective is not to preserve a partnership at any cost. It is to identify a commercially workable way forward.
Mediation between business partners
Mediation can be particularly useful while the parties are still able to make a negotiated decision, even where the relationship is strained.
It allows the parties to address not only legal rights, but also what the company needs in order to function after the dispute.
When is arbitration relevant?
Where a founders' agreement, partnership agreement or shareholders' agreement contains an arbitration clause, or where the parties later agree to arbitrate, arbitration may provide a route to a binding determination.
Founder disputes in technology companies
Technology companies may add further layers to a founder dispute: code, IP, vesting, options, system access, customers, investors, confidential information and dependence on key individuals.
A background in technology and cybersecurity can help move the discussion quickly toward the real dispute rather than spending time explaining basic technical context.
Cross-border shareholders and founders
Where founders, investors or shareholders are based in different countries, the dispute may also involve remote decision-makers, English-language agreements and questions of jurisdiction or governing law.
Mediation or arbitration can often be conducted in English and remotely, subject to the relevant legal framework.
Has the business reached a deadlock?
A short initial enquiry can help identify whether mediation, arbitration or another process may be appropriate.
Call 054-2591002