Resolving partnership disputes between owners, partners or members of an LLC or shareholders in a corporation quickly and cost-effectively is crucial to business success.  Disputes between business owners is more common than you might realize.  Based upon our more than four decades of experience with San Diego business disputes the attorneys at the Watkins Firm can tell you it is important to nip these disagreements early.  Your corporate documents and bylaws or LLC operating agreement should provide specific guidelines on how to proceed while protecting the existing operations of your business.

Partnership disputes between business owners distract the management team from the primary focus of running a business.  Disagreements can disturb the working flow and culture within your organization, and affect production and profitability alike.  Our attorneys provide efficient support to quickly identify core issues and begin negotiations to resolve conflicts and disputes.  We work our clients to understand their perspective and to establish specific objectives for the resolution of the dispute.  We thoroughly document the chronology of events and any potential damages.  These tools provide the leverage to establish negotiations and a productive working environment focused upon a cooperative approach to resolving the situation, and moving the company forward.

The Watkins Firm is able to resolve the vast majority of partnership disputes between business owners here in San Diego and throughout California through effective, leveraged negotiation.  This is the fastest and most cost-efficient manner in which to resolve disputes, repair relationships when possible and get things moving forward while protecting our client’s goals and interests.

There are many reasons for partnership disputes between owners of a company.  The main reason almost always involves money.  However, it could be a matter of the company’s direction, or it might be associated with performance or the work expectations associated with one of the ownership positions.  Roles change.  Businesses evolve.  In many cases some founding members simply are not able to grow with the company, or become overwhelmed by the challenges it faces.  This may require the addition of new skill players, or it might mean a negotiation of work load distribution and associated compensation.

Almost as important as the issues of the dispute are the relationships that are involved.  Partners and co-owners are often close friends or family members.  Spouses and even children and extended families are blended into the business relationship, complicating the issue.  You can trust our experienced and seasoned legal team to protect your interests, while balancing the needs of the business with other priorities in your life.  There is a resolution, and we have helped hundreds of business professionals who have faced challenges such as yours.

Pro-tip: “We want to get the facts down and we want the evidence you have in chronological order, because that’s the best way to communicate to the other party, to a third party, to anyone is in chronological order. That’s how we think. Then I want to help our clients analyze the damages. Whether you are feeling like they owe you something, they’re not complying with the agreement or vice versa. So I want to want something more from you than just to analyze the damages, we’re going to analyze what it’s going to cost to fight. And also look at the future business, whether we can salvage this relationship, all of those important things should come into play. We give sound advice. Sometimes, we’ll even advise our clients how we would think about it and then let them go talk to their partner or whoever they’re dealing with on their own armed with our knowledge and our negotiation technique. 

We might actually coach them a little bit, so they’re ready for the conversation. They are married to the dispute. So they’re married to every little fact. And if they have any kind of good business skills, we can coach them give them the law in layman’s terms so that when they negotiate, they’re negotiating with the knowledge of what we would say and even more facts. So they can actually be better than us. I have an example of a client. I told them, you’re never going to get a better lease negotiation than this. It’s not possible. And, so we had long discussions about it. I gave him all the legal strategies, what’s going to happen if this happens. So what happens if that happens? And he went and talked to the other side and got twice the deal I ha could have ever gotten.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are involved in partnership disputes between owners in your San Diego business we invite you to review our podcast Episode 11 – Resolving Business Disputes as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today. We will discuss your unique situation, the nature of the dispute, and review your corporate documents and associated information to provide sound counsel and options to help you to resolve the dispute at hand quickly and cost-effectively.