Two founders, a small design agency in a converted warehouse off Lewes Road, no shareholders' agreement, and one of them wants to leave: business law solicitors in Brighton & Hove see this story every month. The city's economy is made of small companies, most of them in digital, creative, hospitality or retail, many started by people who moved here for the lifestyle, and the legal needs are those of businesses that grew faster than their paperwork. Shareholder and partnership agreements, terms of business, contracts with freelancers, data protection, licensing for bars and venues and leases on small premises are the bread and butter.
Hospitality and tourism bring their own instructions: leases on the seafront arches, hotel and guesthouse sales, premises licences on West Street and in the Lanes, and the staffing questions that come with a workforce that swells every summer. The digital sector brings investment rounds, option schemes, software development agreements and the sale of agencies to larger groups. The financial services companies with big offices in the city generate commercial contracts and compliance work for local firms as well as for London ones, and Brighton & Hove City Council, the universities and the hospital trust buy from local suppliers, who need help with tenders and framework agreements.
Most commercial disputes in the city never reach a courtroom; those that do go to the county court in Brighton or, for bigger claims, the Business and Property Courts in London. Debt recovery and insolvency advice follow the seasons, with the quiet months after Christmas the hardest for many businesses.
Company formation and standard documents are usually fixed-fee; negotiation and disputes are charged by the hour.
The business firms serving Brighton & Hove are listed below, verified firms first. Read what business law covers, dispute resolution, the general business law solicitors guide and, for staff matters, employment law solicitors in Brighton & Hove.
