Practice area
Commercial Litigation
A dispute is a business problem with a legal shape. The first question is rarely whether a claim exists; it is what pursuing or defending it will cost in money, time and attention, and what a realistic resolution looks like. Litigation that begins without that assessment tends to end badly regardless of the merits.
The issues
What this work involves.
- Contract and payment disputes
- Breach claims, disputed scope, termination and wind-down disagreements, non-payment, and disputes over what the parties' conduct did to the written terms.
- Ownership and governance disputes
- Disagreements among shareholders, members or partners about control, distributions, valuation, access to records, or the terms on which someone exits.
- Business torts and competition
- Claims involving trade secrets, restrictive covenants, interference with contracts or relationships, and disputes that follow a departing employee or a failed partnership.
- Post-transaction disputes
- Earn-out disagreements, working-capital adjustments, indemnity claims, and disputes over representations made during a sale.
- Process obligations
- Preservation of documents and messages once a dispute is reasonably anticipated, discovery scope, privilege, and the practical burden litigation places on the people running the business.
When counsel helps
Points at which a business usually needs advice.
- 01
A demand letter has arrived, or the company is considering sending one.
- 02
A counterparty has stopped paying, stopped performing, or given notice of termination.
- 03
A departing employee or partner has taken relationships, data, or both.
- 04
An earn-out or post-closing adjustment is heading toward disagreement.
- 05
A contract contains an arbitration or forum clause and the company needs to know what it committed to.
- 06
Litigation appears likely and the company needs to preserve records correctly, starting now.
Our approach
How we handle the work.
We assess before we file. That means an early read on liability, the realistic range of recovery or exposure, the likely cost to get to each stage, and what the other side's incentives look like.
We treat preservation as an immediate obligation rather than a later problem. Getting document and message retention right at the outset avoids a category of dispute that has nothing to do with the underlying claim.
We keep the client's time in view. Discovery and depositions consume management attention, and the cost of that attention belongs in the analysis alongside fees.
Where settlement is the better outcome, we say so early rather than after the budget is spent. Where it is not, we prepare the case to be tried.
Relevant services
- Pre-suit assessment of claims and defenses
- Demand letters and pre-litigation negotiation
- Document preservation and legal hold guidance
- Complaint, answer and dispositive motion practice
- Written discovery, document production and depositions
- Preliminary injunction and restraining order proceedings
- Mediation and settlement negotiation
- Arbitration under commercial rules
- Trial preparation and presentation
- Judgment enforcement and post-judgment work
Practical next steps
What to do before you speak to anyone.
- 01
Preserve the record
Suspend routine deletion of email, messaging and documents relating to the dispute. This is one of the few steps that is genuinely time-sensitive.
- 02
Locate the governing terms
Find the contract and any amendments, purchase orders or course-of-dealing documents. Note whether the agreement selects a forum, requires arbitration, or shortens the time to bring a claim.
- 03
Define the commercial goal
Payment, an exit, an injunction and a defensible precedent are different objectives that lead to different strategies. Choosing one early saves money.
Other practice areas
Next step
Start with the situation, not the category.
Describe what is happening in a few lines. We will tell you whether it falls into this area, what handling it would involve, and how it would be scoped and priced.
We typically respond within one business day.