Overview

Our clients benefit from comprehensive family business law expertise from our team of highly experienced family business lawyers who bring together skills from a variety of disciplines.

No two businesses or families are the same. Whatever challenges you face, our first step is to understand your business and what your family wants to achieve. As a leading commercial law firm, we are unusual in also specialising in private client issues but we find combining our business and family expertise allows us to advise family businesses of all sizes across a range of sectors.

Our team supports clients on milestone events which shape the long-term future of their business and their families. We are particularly experienced in succession planning, where a failure to plan can be disastrous for some businesses. We work with clients to develop a strategy early and review plans regularly.

Areas of focus

Our expertise in family business law includes the following:

  • Succession planning.
  • Business restructuring and strategy.
  • Wealth preservation.
  • Tax structuring.
  • Family and business governance.
  • Shareholder and constitutional arrangements. 
Experience

Advising widely on succession issues.

Advising a large second generation business and family following the unexpected death of the founder, which threatened the survival of the business. Our work included re-organising the family's ownership of the holding company and rationalising the structure of the group.

Assisting with setting up family investment companies as well as advising on new business start-ups and on EIS/ SEIS investments into early stage companies.

Advising on governance issues including the establishment and operation of family councils.

Drafting constitutional documents including shareholder arrangements.

Assisting with tax efficient reorganisations to enable division of assets between family members or as part of general restructuring plans.

Advising family businesses of all sizes on exit planning.

Advising on employee incentives schemes, in particular with a view to minimising impact on family shareholders.

Meet the team
Douglas James-Streatfield

Douglas Streatfeild-James Senior Associate

  • Corporate
  • Family Business
  • Private Wealth
Jim Aveline

Jim Aveline Partner

  • Private Client Services
  • Family Offices and Family Businesses
  • Food and Farming
Dominic Davis

Dominic Davis Partner

  • Corporate
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Joint Ventures
Roger Bull

Roger Bull Managing Partner

  • Managing Partner 
  • Employment Disputes
  • Strategic HR Projects

Burges Salmon careers

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