Partnership Disputes and LLPs

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Legal 500 UK 2022

If you are a Partner or Member of an LLP then your pay structure, rights, and obligations will differ to those of regular employees. We understand this and regularly advise partners in Professional Services entering into partnership or LLP agreements, and in relation to partnership LLP disputes and exits.

Partners’ and LLP Members’ remuneration packages usually relate to a share of profits rather than salary, and in investment management, carried interest schemes are common. We are familiar with and advise in relation to these, particularly on an exit to ensure that you receive your full entitlements.

As a Partner you are a fiduciary, meaning that you owe greater obligations of loyalty to the Partnership than employees do to their employers, and you may be required to account to the Partnership in respect of any breach of your fiduciary duties. This changes the landscape when advising in relation to disciplinary and performance matters, and the steps to be taken by a Partner to exit and move to a competitor. Members of an LLP may also owe fiduciary duties and we will be able to advise in relation to those. Post termination restraints against Partners or LLP Members are more likely to be enforceable than against employees, and this is a common battle ground for departing Partners/Members.

Partners and LLP Members remain entitled to discrimination and whistleblowing protections and we routinely act for Partners/Members in the Employment Tribunal in relation to such matters.

Most partnerships are in the professional services sectors and as such are regulated. We understand the interplay between asserting your contractual and statutory rights, whilst observing your regulatory obligations and preserving your reputation.