The curry houses of Brick Lane were once the most famous businesses in Tower Hamlets. Many have closed in the last decade, and the units are being taken by coffee roasters, bars and vintage shops, which has given business law solicitors in Tower Hamlets a steady run of lease surrenders, assignments, rent reviews and change-of-use arguments. Lease renewal under the 1954 Act, and whether the tenant has the protection of it, is the question most often asked by the borough's restaurateurs and shopkeepers.
Family partnerships are the second theme. A large share of the borough's shops, cash-and-carries, restaurants and travel agencies are run by relatives without a written partnership agreement, and when a brother leaves, a father retires or a marriage breaks down, the lack of one turns a business decision into a lawsuit. A solicitor can draw up the agreement, or an incorporation and shareholders' agreement, while everyone is still on speaking terms. Street trading licences for the Whitechapel and Roman Road markets, alcohol licences and right-to-work compliance round out the high-street work.
Canary Wharf and Spitalfields add the venture side: company formation, investment rounds, option schemes, terms of business and data protection for fintech and software companies, and the serviced-office and flexible leases they occupy. The estate's push into life sciences is bringing laboratory leases and licensing deals to the borough too.
Disputes over unpaid invoices, broken contracts and partnership splits go to the county court or, for larger claims, the Business and Property Courts in the Rolls Building; most settle first. Expect fixed fees for formation documents and standard contracts, and hourly rates for negotiation and litigation.
The list below shows business law firms in and around Tower Hamlets, verified firms first. For background there are guides to business law, resolving commercial disputes and debt and insolvency, plus the general business law solicitors page; staffing questions belong with the employment law solicitors in Tower Hamlets.
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