Publications

A selection of recent items from Nicholas Richardson’s blog.

'Til death us do part

A common form of conducting business, particularly where different parties come together to pool their resources, is by way of joint venture.  A good example is a partnership where partners combine to undertake a common business but joint ventures may also be contractual and, more typically outside professional firms, through shareholdings in a limited liability company.  The limited company is generally preferred because of the limited liability and the flexibility the shareholding structure potentially allows, particularly in relation to voting rights, distribution of profits, and the substitution of parties to the joint venture...

» read more

Control those fees

One of the most difficult areas in any relationship with a professional service provider concerns fees.   Lawyers in particular suffer from the reputation for being expensive and clients, armed with popular prejudice from the media and tales of the substantial financial rewards available at the larger commercial firms begin the relationship on the assumption that over-charging is the name of the game.  This is not and need not be so.  There are a few simple rules which, if followed, should leave both you in control of costs and the lawyer content...

» read more

Different, often difficult, but not impossible

Nobody would describe Poland as a particularly easy place in which to start or run a business.  Indeed, the World Bank’s Doing Business 2010 which ranks countries by ease of doing business from 1 (best) to 183 (worst) ranks Poland at 72 and Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2009 which similarly ranks countries from 1 to 180 ranks Poland at 46.   These rankings are disappointing for a modern EU member state but, as with most statistics, they fail to give the whole picture...

» read more

« back