What We Do
At Representation UK, we have considerable experience of advising companies, businesses, directors and shareholders. Here are a few examples of what we do:
Negotiating Trading Relationships
Every business enters into conditions of sale, purchase, and supply agreements with multiple parties. If not understood, they can impose onerous obligations on you. We can help you ensure that your trading terms reflect your requirements.
Negotiating Employment Terms
Contracts of employment and service agreements are not just about pay. Is your business protecting itself against loss of confidential information or knowhow? Does your business use IP an employee may have created?; Have you locked in your key employees using bonus arrangements or share incentive schemes? If not, we can advise you on what you might need.
Corporate Governance and Reputation Management
There has been an increasing amount in the press recently, about the duties and responsibilities of directors and the risk of their becoming involved in conflicts of interest issues. A wrong move can cause enormous damage to a company’s reputation, knocking value off its share price or causing customers or suppliers to shun you. We can bring an objective view to the table, setting policies and ensuring standards remain high and reputations unblemished.
Representing Sellers
Selling a company or business is probably one of the most difficult issues with which business owners have to deal. At Representation UK, we have experience in negotiating transactions to a successful conclusion. We can guide you through what might seem like a labyrinthine process to a successful conclusion, in a tax efficient, no-nonsense manner.
Representing Buyers
Acquisitions come in numerous shapes and sizes: companies or businesses; UK based or overseas; assets or shares. Our clients include existing UK corporates and investors from overseas. We have experience of advising on transactions across a range of sectors, enabling you to concentrate on the integration of your acquisition, post-completion.
Representing Overseas Business Owners
Overseas business owners value having an experienced, trusted adviser in the UK to guide you through the M&A process. We can act as an adviser or a quasi-non-executive director. And, should you require access to other specialists, then through our extensive network of business contacts, we are able to help you access the people you may need.
Advising Boards of Directors and Shareholders
Business life is complicated and sometimes the law seems to get in the way. Because of our experience, we can advise on negotiating commercial contracts, acquisitions and disposal of businesses from the initial stages to completion, corporate structures, raising finance, succession planning and a host of other complicated commercial legal issues.
Acting as a non-executive Director of Legal Services
A legal opinion into the risks of a particular action can save a company a lot of time and cost. And, prevention is nearly always better than cure. Andrew Lindsay has considerable experience acting as a non-executive director, foreseeing the consequences of a particular board decision and helping the board navigate to where they need to be, without exposing their company to avoidable risks. Whether formally appointed as a non-executive director, or providing non-executive-director-type advice, Andrew’s expertise and sound judgement is extremely valuable.
Chairing Meetings
We are sometimes asked to chair meetings to help find solutions to management problems or to resolve disputes between customers, suppliers, employees or other stakeholders. Having an independent person in place to chair these sorts of meetings can be extremely helpful.
Providing external in-house counsel support
Most businesses can’t justify the expense of a permanent in-house counsel department, or afford the cost of seeking regular advice from their own retained law firm. Representation UK has the solution: an external, in-house counsel type service, that a company can dip into when support is needed. Flexible, efficient and great value for money, Representation UK’s considerable corporate experience and low overheads means a company won’t break the bank when seeking independent legal advice.
Audit and Risk Management
Andrew previously chaired the audit and risk management boards of two substantial government agencies: the Central Science laboratory (‘CSL’) and the Food & Environmental Research Agency (‘FERA’). His corporate governance experience as well as his approach to balancing risk with commercial objectives was invaluable to both organisations.
Acting as a Trusted Adviser
It can sometimes be a bit lonely at the top. Having a confidential, trusted adviser with a great deal of corporate experience, can be extremely useful. We provide this service to chairman, CEO's MD's, shareholders and others.