Drafting Shareholder & Partnership Agreements
Protect Your Rights and Interests With Proven Texas Business Lawyers
At Hendershot Cowart P.C., our Houston-based business attorneys have an established record of counseling and representing shareholders in a range of matters, including those involving shareholder disputes, oppression, derivative suits, and individual shareholder claims. While we provide responsive legal services to litigate claims, we also work with clients to mitigate the underlying issues behind those causes of action through the drafting of shareholder agreements.
Shareholder agreements are a means of addressing pivotal events and contingencies before they arise. By properly documenting shareholder (and partnership) rights and responsibilities, conflict can often be avoided or resolved in a cost-effective and minimally disruptive manner – preventing business disruptions, lost value and litigated disputes.
Critical components and potential areas of conflict we address in shareholder or partnership agreements include:
- Addressing a method to determine the value of shares in advance to prevent shareholder disputes
- Buy-sell, control, and management agreements
- Defining roles of majority and minority shareholders in corporate decision-making and ongoing operations, duties and obligations, voting rights, authority to act, and other provisions
- Development of covenants not to compete (also known as non-competition clauses or non-compete agreements) with proven non-compete attorneys
- Measures to prevent minority shareholder oppression
- Options for removal of inactive or potentially harmful, divisive, and otherwise undesirable shareholder(s)
- Procedures to designate, replace, or remove directors or officers
- Protection of trade secrets including client lists, formulas, business plans and more
- Rights and limitations
- Stipulations for dealing with buyout offers and events likely to impact ownership and control including potential loss of shares in a divorce
Trust the Team With 100+ Years of Combined Experience
Predicting specific problems and disputes while drafting partnership and shareholder agreements may be impossible, but protecting your interests through a shareholder agreement for issues that may arise is a sound legal decision well within reach. In today’s legal landscape, especially after the Texas Supreme Court struck down the shareholder oppression cause of action in Ritchie v. Rupe, shareholder agreements have also become increasingly essential for minority shareholders of closely held businesses.
As proven litigators well-versed in transactional and contract development, our firm has the foresight to structure and versatility to handle all paths to resolution, including arbitration, mediation, and assertion of claims or defense in court.
Our team at Hendershot Cowart P.C. proudly serves clients in Houston, throughout Texas and the U.S., and is available to discuss how we can guide partners and shareholders through the process of establishing, modifying, or challenging partnership and shareholder agreements and other business contracts. We also assist our clients involved in business disputes including breach of contract violations, breach of fiduciary duties, business fraud or other bad faith situations.
To discuss how we can help you protect your financial stake in a business or resolve a dispute, call 713-909-7323.
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