Contracts signed in Singapore, Lagos and Dubai name the courts of the City of London to settle their disputes, and the Commercial Court in the Rolls Building and the arbitration institutions nearby are why a Square Mile business solicitor may spend a week on a dispute with no English party at all. That international work sits on top of a domestic practice: company formation and shareholder agreements for fintech start-ups, partnership and LLP agreements for the professional firms that fill the City's office floors, regulatory authorisation for anyone touching financial services, and the contracts, leases and employment terms every business needs.
The City of London is also a place of small businesses. Thousands of cafés, barbers, tailors and consultancies serve the commuters, and their needs are ordinary: a lease with a fair break clause, terms of business that get them paid, a dispute with a supplier, help when a client goes bust. The Mayor's and City of London Court beside Guildhall hears their smaller claims; the Business and Property Courts handle the large ones, and the Insolvency and Companies Court within them deals with winding-up petitions and directors' disqualification.
Mergers, acquisitions, investment rounds and the sale of a business are the transactional end, where due diligence, warranties and tax structuring decide the price. Data protection, sanctions, anti-bribery rules and the identity checks the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act has brought to Companies House add the compliance layer.
Fees in the City of London range from fixed packages for incorporations and standard documents to hourly rates that differ enormously between a global firm and a four-partner practice; ask who will do the work and what each stage costs.
The business law firms serving the City of London appear below, verified first. Explainers on business law, corporate law, banking law and commercial dispute resolution give the background; the general business law solicitors page covers the work in outline, and for staff questions see employment law solicitors in the City of London.
Verified