When businesses merge or break up and stakeholder impass follows, closely held and public companies alike turn to Holland & Hart.
The needs and priorities of owners, members, and investors of private companies and LLCs can evolve. Our team guides stakeholders through changes in corporate composition and unresolvable issues that result in business “divorce.” With the goal of preserving our clients’ financial postitions and rights, we handle a wide range of disputes including breach of fiduciary duty, breach of formation and operating agreements, and disputed dissolutions in federal and state courts and through alternative dispute resolution.
For public companies, our cases have included earn-out disputes, securities fraud claims, alleged disclosure deficiencies, accounting fraud allegations, and books and records disputes. We have a strong record in defeating shareholder derivative suits, often involving class action certification attempts, when officers directors or executives are accused of breaches of duty.
We are also trusted counsel to boards and special committees, providing business-savvy advice on corporate governance as well as internal and special litigation committee investigations. Government and self-regulatory investigations often run in parallel with shareholder disputes. We provide critical defense counsel to companies, officers, and directors facing whistleblower retaliation claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank acts.