Governance disputes

Our experienced governance-disputes solicitors provide advice and support on all aspects of governance disputes involving board members, shareholders or supporters.

Internal governance disputes often start with legitimate differences of view, when board members disagree about the management of the organisation, the direction of the business, or where members feel their rights are not being respected. In the worst cases, internal governance disputes can be more damaging to your organisation that external issues.

There can be many reasons for disagreements arising, including a clash of personalities, conflicts of interest, inappropriate conducts such as allegations of bullying, a misunderstanding of rights and obligations or a communication issue.

Governance disputes can be a complex area of law that require each position to be considered and dealt with in observance with the organisation's constitution, internal policies and procedures and the general law. For this reason, it is imperative that you have robust policies and procedures in place to support in the dealing of a governance dispute.

We understand that governance disputes are often complicated and deal with sensitive situations and our experience of working with clients in the social business sector to resolve governance disputes enables us to reach the best workable outcome quickly, and in compliance with requirements to reduce the risk of damaging the reputation of the organisation. Failure to comply with all of the requirements could result in litigation in the courts.

Our governance-disputes service

At Anthony Collins Solicitors our experienced governance disputes team regularly works with leading charities, co-operatives and mutuals, social enterprises and commercial organisations to resolve governance disputes. We can advise and support organisations through every step of the process, including:

• Reputation and crisis management, including bringing and defending defamation claims.
• Managing splits within the board.
• Dealing with board-member misconduct, including removing a director from the board.
• Terminating an executive director’s employment.
• Drafting, reviewing and updating policies and procedures.
• Breach of shareholder agreements.
• Minority shareholders protection.
• Disputes over directors’ remuneration.
• Breach of an organisation’s constitution.
• Fraudulent or wrongful trading.

Chances are, if a governance dispute comes up, we’ve probably been through the process. We can offer a clear and balanced external perspective and navigate you through the maze to come out the other side. Our advice is practical, clear and we will work with you to guide you through every step of the legal process. Our experienced teams have extensive sector knowledge and experience to work with you through periods of uncertainty, change and difficulty.

If you would like further information about governance disputes or how our experienced law team can help you, please get in touch.