Maw Comms news
10 Feb, 17 New flowcharts aim to help businesses through the litigation maze
Step by step guides will cover the most common business disputes including unpaid invoices
Leading regional law firm, Howes Percival, is launching a series of dispute resolution flowchart guides to help businesses deal with the most commonly encountered litigation problems.
The ‘Navigating the Litigation Maze’ series kicks-off with a step by step guide to dealing with unpaid invoices. Future guides will cover disputes concerning orders and contracts and partnership and shareholder disputes.
According to a recent report by Federation of Small Business* commercial disputes cost small businesses in England and Wales at least £11.6 billion each year. The report revealed that 70% of small businesses have faced at least one dispute between 2010 and 2015, with an average amount under dispute of £18,000. Almost three quarters of disputes were a result of late or non-payment.
Howes Percival’s free, step-by-step guides are designed to help companies stay on the right side of the law and ensure complex issues are handled correctly. The flow-chart format shows, at a glance, the route that companies need to take at any stage of a dispute, which will put them on the right track to manage a resolution in a cost effective manner – and, if necessary, show them the best time to instruct a lawyer. The guides will be downloadable from Howes Percival’s website.
Commenting on the launch of the new guides, Alison Kirby, Partner at Howes Percival said, “At some point, most businesses have to deal with a commercial dispute of some kind – whether that’s an unpaid invoice, a dispute with a supplier or conflict between directors. Commercial disputes can be stressful, costly and time-consuming. They can have serious consequences for businesses, from short-term cash flow difficulties to insolvency.
“In our experience, most problems start off as quite small disputes, which means a businesses will often try to resolve it themselves. But when that approach goes wrong it can be spectacular. Our ‘Navigating the Litigation Maze’ flowcharts are designed to put directors back in the driving seat by giving them practical guidance to manage disputes early on, with clear direction on the steps they need to take. Our aim is to equip businesses with the information they need to resolve disputes as quickly and painlessly as possible, while helping them recognise when it may be time to engage legal advice.
“The most common dispute companies face is dealing with late or unpaid invoices, so we’ve chosen this as the topic for our first guide. Our ‘Unpaid Invoice’ flowchart outlines the correct procedure companies should follow to maximise the chance of successfully obtaining payment. It covers the basics of what action is required and when to take it.”
The first Howes Percival ‘Navigating the Litigation Maze’ guide to Unpaid Invoices is available here: http://www.howespercival.com/content/wysiwyg/images/Litigation%20Maze%20%20%20%201.%20Unpaid%20Invoice%20PDF.pdf
Howes Percival’s Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution team advises on both national and international commercial disputes. The team advises on a broad spectrum of disputes for businesses, government clients and individuals and have expertise in dealing with complex, high value and high profile cases. They specialise in disputes that require urgent court action such as injunctions, freezing orders and search and seize orders.
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For further information please contact:
Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications (www.mawcomms.co.uk) on 01603 505 845
Notes to editors:
*Federation of Small Business Commercial Dispute report published December 2016, 72% of small businesses’ legal problems are due to late or non-payment.
Howes Percival has offices in Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Norwich. It has 42 partners and 135 lawyers.
The firm is recommended in The Legal 500 – the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms. In 2016, no fewer than 11 different departments achieved the guide’s highest possible ranking (Tier 1): Dispute Resolution – Commercial Litigation; Finance – Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Human Resources – Employment Law; Human Resources – Health and Safety; Private Client – Agriculture and Estates; Private Client – Tax, Trusts and Probate; Real Estate – Commercial Property; Real Estate – Environment; Real Estate – Property litigation; Real Estate – Planning; Technology, Media & Telecoms – Intellectual Property.
