About Us
The practice was set up some twenty years ago to provide a specialist service to owner managed businesses, of the sort not often found outside much bigger law firms.
We are happy to meet anyone about anything which is within our expertise for half an hour or so. If it goes no further, that will be free of charge
During the meeting we can discuss what it is you want, the likelihood of achieving it, as well as timescale and cost. If we don’t think it will work, or if the cost is going to be out of proportion to the subject matter, we’ll tell you.
People sometimes get mixed up about lawyers, but understand cars and garages – if you’ve got an expensive car, or one you particularly like, you might decide to spend money on it, but if it is an old banger, you probably won’t. Legal problems should be much the same
Face-to-face meetings are always available – experience shows that they generally lead to much better outcomes – but we’ll do things remotely if that is better for you, especially if you are too far away to meet in person, or abroad.
Business law is a huge subject, and we have (and pay quite a lot) for constantly updated resources behind the scenes. This means we can help with all sorts of problems, not just what is shown on our website.
Having worked for twenty years without anyone suing us for negligence suggests that our work is pretty good.
A lot of our work is about court cases. Going to court and winning is good; not having to go at all is usually even better – it tends to be cheaper, quicker, and avoids the risk of a judge getting things wrong. There are lots of ways of achieving this, and we are always very happy to discuss them with you.
Many of our court cases are against much bigger law firms, with our clients achieving excellent outcomes, at a fraction of the cost of the other party.
Much of our court work is in the business and property courts, which is a specialist part of the High Court. Where appropriate, we can engage specialist barristers (many of who are also part time judges), often London based; this is only done after you have approved their fees. When needed we can introduce surveyors, valuers and even private detectives.
Sometimes we recommend engaging lawyers abroad – we have used English qualified solicitors based as far apart as Poland and Vietnam where a local presence will add value.
What sorts on things have we been involved with recently?
Much of it is what you might be expecting.
Here are some of the nice things:
- Buying and selling companies/shares/assets/leases/commercial properties/ land;
- Helping put things in place inside a business – partnership and shareholder agreements.
- Drafting contracts and terms and conditions for all sorts of businesses, and helping with data protection and GDPR
And some other things:
- Collecting debts large and small (it’s cheaper and quicker to avoid the county court if you can)
- Advising on the vexed questions about whether ex-employees and compete with their old employer
- Helping avoid claims for council tax for unoccupied properties
- Resolving claims by building owners for defective works, and by builders for not being paid.
- Winding up companies
And some unusual ones:
- Advising families, and councils, on what they each can and cannot do with burial plots in council owned cemeteries
- Getting goods removed when the owner leaves them behind – scaffolding is a common example.
Who do we do it for?
Most of our clients are in a radius around Derby and Nottingham. Quite a few are in London. Some are further afield.
Some are sizable and long established. Some are new businesses, working from home.
Quite a few are other professional practices. We often represent accountants, financial advisers, surveyors, architects, and IT professionals.
We are proud to occasionally act or other solicitors or barristers’ chambers, when our expertise is different from theirs.
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Please call us on: 0115 8371 430
