Legal advice aimed at realizing greater shareholder value.

Owning shares in a privately-held company or partnership is a far more rigorous endeavour than owning shares in a publicly-traded company, whether its on the TSX or NYSE.  Having practised law for many years in New York City / Wall Street, I became highly familiar with the challenges facing shareholders in both publicly-traded and private company spheres, and the private sector clearly imposes far more challenges upon its shareholders (with similar challenges being incurred by partners of partnerships).

The principal challenge associated with holding shares in privately-held companies is their lack of liquidity (i.e., the absence of a stock market to buy and sell shares), which necessitates the creation of specific shareholder arrangements.  This is principally done through a shareholders agreement (alternatively a partnership agreement when dealing with partners), which not only provides a contractual framework for operating the business and making key decisions, but can also create procedural buy-sell mechanisms, including death & disability arrangements, put & call options, shotgun provisions, piggy-back rights, insolvency and marital break-up requirements.  The shareholders agreement thus provides an important mechanism for resolving challenging shareholder situations; nonetheless, disputes do arise and than the lawyer takes on a more assertive role in resolving a specifically defined point of contention.