Company directors face an unprecedented challenge in keeping their businesses afloat in these difficult times. It is crucial that directors can access legal advice tailored to the needs of their business, whether this is for a quick call to sense check a course of action, pursuing new commercial opportunities, insolvency advice or robustly defending your company’s interests.
What is legal advice for directors?
As a company director you face new challenges each day in managing your business and staff whilst generating new opportunities. We act as trusted advisors to our clients, from the quick phone call to sense check a query, to handling property and corporate transactions and managing legal problems. We appreciate your time is precious and provide a tailored service to assist you where needed to help you grow your business.
The Primas team comprises specialist solicitors in every area of commercial advice who will take care of any issue your business faces and support you through any challenge, including...
Over the last two years, there have been changes to employment law, so it’s important your employment contracts are up to date with the latest legislation.
The fact is that we’re now facing a business landscape filled with companies who now cannot recover the money owed to them.
Concerns have been raised that some businesses may not be able to repay the outstanding rent as the difficult economic situation has left their business in a state that will take years to recover, if at all.
At a time where SMEs have reportedly lost over £126.6 billion to the cost of Covid, value for money is imperative.
The sooner you get expert advice, the stronger your chances are of recovery – getting advice from an insolvency practitioner doesn’t always lead to an insolvency procedure, there are other options which can be explored in the early stages.
It is crucial that a company’s shareholders are in sync and very damaging to the business if they find themselves in a dispute. We assist in preparing shareholders’ agreements which help to manage shareholder relations. Where the shareholders are already in dispute we can assist in achieving a speedy resolution which limits the fallout to the business. Should the difficulties prove irresolvable then we can advise on strategies to protect the business, such as a sale of the business and winding up of its affairs.
Many directors have taken advantage of HMRC deferments during COVID and may find themselves with outstanding balances that cannot be paid on time. We assist directors in negotiating time to pay arrangements with HMRC and dealing with discrepancies in HMRC’s account.
The Government has legislated during COVID to limit creditors’ options to pursue outstanding debts in order to protect businesses. This has meant that many companies find themselves with significant book debts which need to be pursued. We can assist you in collecting these debts whether by way of letters of demand, winding up action or a county court claim.
The Companies Act 2006 sets out various duties which a director owes to the company including:
When a company finds itself in financial difficulty it is crucial that the director take professional advice. In the normal course a director’s duty is to shareholders however in the event of insolvency the director’s primary duty is to creditors and protecting their position. If the director continues to trade without taking advice then they do so at the risk of possible personal liability should this action result in the creditor position worsening.
In the usual course, a director has no personal liability for the company’s debts. Where the company enters into some financial arrangements such as bank overdrafts and leases, he may be asked to provide a personal guarantee for part or all of the company’s obligations. Some suppliers will also seek personal guarantees to supply credit. It is important to be aware of your obligations and to negotiate where possible to exclude or limit your personal liability.
When a company becomes insolvent this will normally result in the company being placed into an insolvency process following the advice of an insolvency practitioner. In liquidation, the director will cooperate with the liquidator in providing information to allow him to wind up the company’s affairs including collecting book debts.
