Articles and guides, in plain English.
Opinion from our solicitors, plus practical guides for business owners and their families — no jargon, no lectures.
Opinion & comment.
How to tell a good solicitor from an expensive one
Choosing a solicitor is oddly hard, because the thing you're buying is judgement, and you can't see judgement in a brochure. So peop…
The three documents nearly every business owner is missing — and later regrets
Most of the legal emergencies I see weren't bad luck. They were predictable — and would have been a non-event if one piece of paper …
You don't have a legal problem. You have a business problem with legal consequences
Clients almost never walk in with a 'legal problem'. They walk in with a business problem — a customer who won't pay, a partner who'…
Legal advice is too slow and too expensive. That's a choice, not a law of nature
For years the deal for a small business needing a lawyer has been simple: pay a fortune, wait weeks, and try to decode the answer wh…
The practical stuff, explained.
Straight answers to the questions business owners and their families actually ask.
Your company is in trouble: the options, before it's too late
Every insolvency practitioner will tell you the same thing: the businesses that survive are the ones whose directors picked up the p…
Trusts, in plain English: what they're for and when they help
Say the word 'trust' and people picture aristocrats and tax dodges. In reality they're an ordinary, useful tool — a way to look afte…
Buying commercial premises: what to check before you commit
Commercial property is where a good deal and a costly one look almost identical until completion. The difference is what your solici…
When business partners fall out: resolving shareholder disputes
A shareholder dispute is a divorce where the couple still has to run a company together every morning. They're among the most damagi…
NDAs: when you actually need one, and when it's theatre
The NDA is the most casually signed document in business — pinged over, signed unread, filed and forgotten. Which is a shame, becaus…
Restrictive covenants: stopping a leaver taking your business with them
The day a good employee resigns to join a competitor is the day you find out whether your contracts were worth the paper. By then it…
How to make someone redundant properly (and stay out of the tribunal)
Redundancy is hard enough as a human decision. As a legal one, it's unforgiving of shortcuts — and the shortcuts are exactly what a …
Hiring your first employee: what you legally have to get right
Your first hire is a milestone and a liability in equal measure. Get a few things right at the start and it's straightforward. Get t…
When the money runs short, a director's job quietly changes
There's a moment when a struggling company stops being about the shareholders and starts being about the creditors. It doesn't annou…
Conveyancing, explained like a human would
Moving home is stressful enough without your solicitor speaking in tongues. Here's the whole process in plain English, and where it …
Settlement agreements, without the mystery
A settlement agreement ends an employment cleanly and finally, with both sides protected. Get it right and it's a useful tool. Impro…
Go into business with someone and the law writes your rules for you
Two people, one business, no paperwork — and a law from 1890 quietly running the show. It's almost never the deal you'd have chosen.…
Being an executor is a bigger job than it sounds
Someone names you executor of their will as a compliment. It is, right up until they die and you discover it's a job — with personal…
Selling your business: you build it in years, you sell it in months
The best price isn't just about the numbers. It's about how easy you make the business to buy. Loose ends cost you real money at the…
A commercial lease is a long marriage. Read it before you say yes
Everyone reads the rent. Almost nobody reads the repairing clause. Guess which one turns up with a five-figure bill at the end of th…
Buying a business: be sceptical, then be thorough
Buying a business is the one moment you're allowed to be a pessimist. The optimists are the ones who find the problems after complet…
In a dispute? Don't send that angry email yet
The first move in a dispute often decides its shape. Fire off a threat in the heat of the moment and you can talk yourself into a fi…
Good employers lose tribunal claims too. Here's how to not
Most claims against small businesses don't come from bad employers. They come from decent ones who did the right thing the wrong way…
Terms of business: the boring document that saves your bacon
Nobody starts a business because they love contracts. But the ones who write things down are the ones who sleep at night when a deal…
A will is for when you die. This is for if you don't
Everyone plans for death and nobody plans for the messier possibility — being alive but unable to make decisions. For a business own…
Sort the shareholder agreement before you need it. Please.
Every business partnership starts with two people who'd never fall out. I've unwound enough of them to tell you: write the rules whi…
The one document everyone needs and nobody gets round to
Making a will is the ultimate 'I'll get to it' job. Then you don't — and the law makes your decisions for you, badly.…
How to actually get a late invoice paid
An unpaid invoice is a cash-flow problem and a legal one. The good news: a calm, methodical chase gets more money in than an angry o…
Practical law, direct to your inbox.
One useful email a month on commercial, property and private-client law for business owners — no jargon, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
By subscribing you agree to our privacy notice.