When running a business commercial disputes are commonplace and can occur at any time. Whether there is conflict between an employer and an employee, with a contractor, a customer or anyone else these disputes must be handled with care.
Commercial dispute resolution solicitors can help you to gain control over potentially damaging commercial disputes. However, understanding how to prevent or resolve these issues as soon as possible can be invaluable.
In this article we will discuss 6 ways in which you can protect your business and avoid commercial disputes…
- Have Clear Agreements in Place
When drafting contracts, it’s better for a legal professional to do the heavy lifting. Without professional guidance your contracts and other agreements may not be considered legally binding which could lead to commercial disputes in the future.
Similarly, an agreement that is difficult to understand or unclear can lead to misunderstandings and costly disputes.
These mistakes often happen when people assume that consulting a lawyer will be expensive and time consuming which is a common misconception.
- Understand Position of the Other Party
When in a commercial dispute with an individual or business one of the key things to consider is what sort of position they are in.
For instance, are they a large business or a limited company or a sole trader. This will dictate how strong your defence will need to be in order to compete with them in a commercial dispute.
Additionally, consider the unique situation. The amount of evidence and other information you will need to resolve matters can vary dramatically from case to case.
- Prepare For Dispute Resolution
The best way to prepare for a commercial dispute is to have processes in places that give clear instruction on how to handle dispute resolution. For example, when it comes to matters like shareholder agreements, having a dispute resolution process in place will prevent small disputes from escalating.
- Evidence and Documentation
In many cases of commercial dispute evidence and relevant documentation will be required to resolve the matter. Because of this, it’s essential that you prepare in advance and have clear copies of anything that you may need.
For this to be successful your document must be well organised so that you can find any evidence that you may need and not lose important documentation whilst still protecting sensitive information that may be involved.
Preparing for commercial disputes ahead of time by keeping all necessary documents will give you a much better chance of keeping control of a situation.
- Personal Guarantees
Asking for a personal guarantee from a company’s director or third party may not always be necessary. However, in some cases it can make a massive difference to the resolution of a commercial dispute. Sometimes a limited company may be placed in liquidation as a way of avoiding resolving a dispute, negatively affecting your business.
A personal guarantee is a great way to confirm that this is not in the cards before entering into a business relationship. Alongside this, it’s important to always do plenty of research before partnering with a business who may not be a good fit for you.
- Handling Complaints
When handling complaints from customs and clients it’s important that the correct procedures are being followed.
To prevent commercial disputes from arising through complaints, training your team in dispute resolution can be beneficial. Negative feedback is never pleasant to hear and in some cases a client/customer may become upset or angry, in this situation it’s important that your employees know how to receive this information.
A standardised procedure for handling these matters can help to massively improve client and customer satisfaction, whilst minimising conflicts and providing your employees with a way to managing these types of disputes.
Avoiding a Commercial Dispute
Overall, the best way to avoid a commercial dispute is to take precautionary measures ahead of time. Ensure contracts are clear, save evidence just in case and have a number of processes dedicated to dispute resolution.
Whilst commercial disputes may sometimes be unavoidable, having things in places to ensure that things don’t escalate is the best way of resolving matters as amicably and quickly as possible.
Please be advised that this article is for general informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for advice from a legal professional. Be sure to consult a family law solicitor if you need sport during or after a divorce. We are not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information on this site.
