Shareholder Disputes
Since its introduction in 1980, the protection afforded to shareholders by what is now s.459 of the Companies Act 1985 has generated an enormous amount of litigation. As specialists in company litigation, we have been active in defining the proper ambit of the legislation: minority shareholders with a genuine grievance have been vindicated, and oppressive majorities have been restrained.
Of course, not every shareholder dispute lends itself to a petition under the Act, and derivative and personal actions and the just and equitable winding up petition remain as useful weapons in the litigation armoury. We are expert in them all.
However, litigation is not an end in itself; much of our effort focusses on achieiving a satisfactory commercial resolution through the use of ADR, including mediation, early neutral evaluation and other techniques.