Corporate Disputes Lawyers

Disagreements over business ownership, strategic control or commercial operations are often high stakes and complex. Resolving these disputes effectively requires experienced legal support.

At JMW, we handle high-value, business-critical corporate disputes. Our expertise covers all areas of corporate litigation, with cases resolved through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or proceedings in the High Court.

If you are involved in a corporate dispute following a business transaction or agreement, or you are considering entering into a deal and wish to fully protect yourself and your business, contact JMW Solicitors today. You can call us on 0345 872 6666 or enter your details into our contact form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Meet Our Team of Solicitors

JMW’s team provides expert advice and tailored solutions to navigate corporate disputes, resolving conflicts efficiently while safeguarding your business’s interests.

How JMW Can Help

We act for directors, shareholders, companies and commercial partners involved in corporate disputes. Our corporate litigation lawyers provide strategic advice from the early stages of a disagreement through to resolution, drawing on extensive experience and strong industry knowledge.

We help:

• Business owners and shareholders involved in internal disputes over management or ownership
• Buyers or sellers pursuing or defending breach of warranty, misrepresentation or contractual claims
• Buyers or sellers dealing with disputes following share or asset sales, including earn-out or deferred consideration issues
• Minority shareholders seeking to enforce their rights or bring unfair prejudice claims
• Joint venture partners in dispute over obligations, performance or management

Our corporate dispute resolution services cover:

• Shareholder disputes, including unfair prejudice petitions and deadlock situations
• Claims involving breach of director duties or fiduciary obligations
• Boardroom disputes over management rights, dividend entitlements or business strategy
• Actions over misuse of confidential information
• Applications for injunctions or other urgent remedies before the High Court

We use every legal mechanism available to resolve corporate disputes efficiently. Where contracts include resolution procedures - such as expert determination or arbitration - we follow them to protect your position and manage risk. We act early to resolve matters behind closed doors where possible, and pursue litigation through the courts when necessary.

Common Causes of Corporate Disputes

Corporate disputes often arise during or after major transactions, or where ownership and control are shared between multiple parties.

Relying on informal or short-form agreements without understanding the risks can create legal difficulties at a later stage. When issues arise later, there is often no clear record of what was agreed - leading to conflicting interpretations and disputes that are harder to resolve. Even with well-drafted agreements, disputes can surface if expectations change, performance fails to meet commercial targets or trust between parties breaks down.

In our experience, many of the cases we deal with could have been resolved much more quickly, and potentially avoided altogether, if the proper advice had been taken initially. 

Shareholder disputes

Disputes between shareholders and directors often arise where there is disagreement over the direction of the business, unequal participation in management or concerns about misconduct. These issues can quickly escalate, particularly in private companies or joint ventures where personal relationships and decision-making authority are closely tied.

We act in shareholder and boardroom disputes involving exclusion from decision-making, disagreements over strategy or dividends, breaches of shareholder agreements or voting rights, and director misconduct. We also advise on unfair prejudice petitions and urgent injunctions to prevent unauthorised actions or asset transfers.

These disputes are often commercially and personally sensitive. We focus on protecting the business and value of the relevant shareholding while enforcing or defending your legal position.

Post-completion disputes in M&A transactions

Business sales and acquisitions frequently lead to disputes once the deal is done. We act in cases involving disputed completion accounts, withheld deferred payments and arguments over whether earn-out targets were fairly applied. We also act where one party claims a breach of warranty or misrepresentation and, in doing so, we assess the contract terms and disclosure documents to build a clear position.

Restrictive covenants and confidentiality clauses can also become flashpoints post-completion, particularly if one party believes the other is undermining the deal’s value. These disputes often require a careful legal and commercial approach.

Spotting the Early Signs of a Corporate Dispute

Corporate disputes rarely come out of nowhere. There are often clear warning signs that a disagreement is about to escalate. Common red flags include:

• A breakdown in communication between shareholders or directors
• Withholding of key financial or operational information
• Disputes over dividend payments or business strategy
• Delayed or disputed payments following a share or business sale
• Failure to meet contractual milestones in joint ventures or commercial partnerships

If you are seeing these or other signs of a dispute, getting early legal advice will help you take control and limit the impact on the business.