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Corporate & Commercial Solicitors

Your business is our business. Whether you are setting up a business, buying or selling a business or simply encountering the typical problems and issues affecting all businesses, our Corporate and Commercial Team will provide practical, commercially focused advice, guidance and solutions to business across the North West.

At Butcher & Barlow, we take the time to understand your business, the challenges it faces, and your commercial objectives. We aim to build long term, personal relationships with all our business clients underpinned by trust, respect and a common goal. Working collaboratively alongside our colleagues in employment law, commercial property and commercial dispute resolution, we aim to become an integral part of your professional support team.

With our core teams located at our dedicated commercial office on Gadbrook Park, Northwich, and in our Bury head office, our partner-led, Legal 500 recommended service ensures that you receive the quality of advice you would expect from a city firm, at a lower cost, and in the case of the Gadbrook Park office, from a convenient business park location.

The Team’s expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, asset finance and secured lending, shareholder agreements and review of commercial documents, with a long history of working with SMEs, landlords, property investors, charities and breweries amongst other businesses.

No matter how big or small, complex or simple, we have the resources and skills to meet your business requirements.

To find out more about how we can assist your business, or to arrange a no-obligation appointment to discuss your requirements, please get in touch with any member of our team. Appointments can be arranged to be done by telephone, video, or in person. Alternatively, complete our Enquiry form and we will call you back as soon as possible.

How can we help you?

From the outset, choosing the right structure for your business venture is crucial to its success. In order to choose the right structure, you need advice that is thorough, practical and proactive. At Butcher & Barlow, we advise in relation to sole practitioners, partners, LLP’ and Limited Companies, as well as the establishment of Trusts and charitable organisations. The Team will work alongside your Accountant and any other business advisor, and once decided upon, will draft the appropriate Agreements, constitutional documents and ancillary Agreements.

Under UK company law the relationship between shareholders remains, save for limited statutory provisions and a company’s articles of association, unregulated. A written agreement is therefore necessary to define and govern the relationship between shareholders, which lessens the risk of a dispute arising. You can read more about Shareholder Agreements in our downloadable guides.

We will also consider whether a Cross Option Agreement is required to protect the business and the surviving shareholder on the death of a shareholder.

There are many day-to-day legal issues in the running of a business and ensuring the right contracts and agreements are in place with suppliers, customers, agents and your employees is key to the business’s long-term success. The ability to pair the technical legal skills of our team with the commercial needs of our clients is what makes us the perfect fit for you and your business. We draft, review, negotiate and report on a full range of commercial agreements across numerous sectors, with clients ranging from local start-ups to multinational companies.

We are able to provide a complete legal service for Franchisors or Franchisees to ensure that their legal rights are protected, and that both businesses are able to achieve a positive return on the franchise.

There comes a point in the period of ownership of any Shareholder where he, she (or they) is looking to exit the business and dispose of the shares. We have particular expertise and substantial experience in this area of law and are able to advise at all stages of the process, from the initial terms of agreement for the sale of the shares, to dealing with due diligence enquiries or replies to drafting or reviewing the sale terms including any warranties that are attached; we can also deal with the employee and property considerations and another ancillary to secure the outcome you desire.

Our Team has extensive experience in advising on all stages of asset sales and purchases. This experience allows us to thoroughly understand your commercial objectives and provide you with clear, tailored advice and documentation to enable these objectives. Our team will work collaboratively with the employment and commercial property teams to ensure an efficient transaction.

We are able to give advice in relation to all aspects of Partnership law, including formation, Partnership Agreements, regulation of Partners and dissolution and retirement, both in respect of the traditional Partnership model and LLP’s.

From the credit and underwriting process, through to drafting the facility agreements and putting in place security, our team can assist. Having worked with lenders and borrowers for many years, we understand the financing challenges from both perspectives, enabling us to deliver practical, commercial solutions to the most complex of arrangements.

We are able to deal with purchase of businesses that may be in administration or liquidation, or advise Directors looking to enter such arrangements, where necessary, working closely with insolvency practitioners. With a long history of being able to deal with purchase of assets from Insolvency Practitioners, we can ensure that something can be salvaged from a very difficult and often distressing situation.

Succession planning is the process of deciding how best to move your wealth on to future generations. At its simplest succession planning will consist of making a Will but complex situations may require further steps for example setting up a Family Investment Company or a Trust. Working with our Private Client Team, we will take time to understand your business and your personal objective and create a succession plan specifically tailor to your needs.

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    Business Structures

    Partnership, LLP or Company

    Download

    Business Structures

    An introduction to farming business structures

    Download

    Limited Companies

    The benefits of a Shareholder’s Agreement

    Download

    Limited Companies

    Shareholder Resolutions

    Download

    Limited Companies

    Director’s duties

    Download

    Limited Companies

    Cross Option Agreements explained

    Download

    Limited Companies

    10 reasons why you need a shareholder’s agreement

    Download
    Case study banner

    Case Study: Acquisition of Brand Vista

      Butcher & Barlow’s Corporate and Commercial team provided legal services to creative agency, Brand Vista Limited, during the agency’s...

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    Justin Kelly

    Justin Kelly

    Partner & Notary Public

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    Jonathan Aldersley

    Jonathan Aldersley

    Partner & Notary Public

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    Tom Newman

    Tom Newman

    Associate

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    Meet the
    Corporate & Commercial Team

    Our people are what makes Butcher & Barlow what it is. Each one of our team is committed to building a solid, long-lasting working relationship with our clients across Bury, Manchester and Cheshire.

    Corporate & Commercial Insights

    Seminar: Beat the inheritance tax trap

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    Dispute Resolution in IT

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    What our clients say about our Corporate & Commercial Service

    All very straightforward and efficient. It felt like a complex issue for us, but it was so smooth and easy. It also came in below budget, which was very welcome

    The Legal 500 2024 Rankings

    They liaise with our queries and referrals in a timely manner and try and provide clear recommendations having considered the commercial reality of the situation.

    The Legal 500 2024 Rankings

    Our experience of the team is that they are approachable and personal and get across their recommendations in a clear and concise manner. They consider issues commercially and provide practicable advice.

    The Legal 2024 Rankings

    Thank you so much for your really brilliant work for us.

    Mr A

    We consulted with Shay Moore on a matter regarding Articles of Association for a Limited Company. Shay was very professional and answered our questions and after two meetings we were able to move forward with confidence that we were fully informed of all the options available. Shay was friendly and easy to talk to and replied promptly to phone calls and emails. We highly recommend his services and will use them in the future should the need arise.

    DW

    Shay was able to help me look through some legal documents to give me a good understanding on them. He was great to deal with, very responsive and was able to answer everything I asked of him.

    Adam

    I would highly recommend Shay and would have no hesitation in seeking his services again. Shay provided valuable advice in a way that was easy to understand. He responded to any queries promptly and was very professional to deal with.

    Frances

    Butcher & Barlow were recommended to us by a local law firm when we were transitioning our business to employee ownership. For us, it was a complex and quite daunting job, but Jonathan made it very simple and straightforward. They were very professional, responsive and we felt very reassured every step of the way. Would definitely recommend.

    Mr & Mrs B

    The support of Jonathan Aldersley continues to be an invaluable asset to my companies and his proactiveness, calm demeanour, opinions and expertise in managing often fairly complex M&A projects is highly appreciated. Justin Kelly is also worthy of recognition in particular for the commercial judgement applied to employment matters and the negotiations he undertook.’

    Legal 500

    I have worked with Justin Kelly and Jonathan Aldersley on numerous projects and found them both to be very approachable and accessible should I need to seek advice or query contract terms. They also have a desire to keep projects moving along and swiftly dealing with roadblocks which have the potential to stall thing.

    Legal 500

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