Working together.

Anyone who works with others needs clarity: who contributes what, who owns the results, how decisions are made and how to part ways again. This applies to a cooperation between two companies as much as to a consortium, an alliance or your own company. I structure such cooperations, accompany them and help when conflicts arise within them.

Today, cooperation often takes place across sites, organisations and borders, synchronously as well as asynchronously. Contracts that reflect this from the outset save friction later: clear responsibilities, agreed handling of data, software and results, and agreed routes for decisions and for disputes.

Topics

Cooperation between companies – cooperation agreements, working groups, joint ventures and project companies, development and distribution partnerships.
Consortia and research cooperation – consortium agreements for funded projects, cooperation with universities, rights in results.
Data and platform cooperation – shared use of data, data spaces, obligations under the Data Act.
Alliances and mergers – shared administration, IT alliances, mergers, including non-profit organisations.
Articles of association – choice of legal form, the reformed German partnership (GbR), GmbH and UG, associations, cooperatives, steward ownership.
Shareholders and management – shareholder agreements, investors, employee participation, entry and exit, managing directors’ contracts and liability.
Conflicts in cooperation – deadlock, shareholder disputes, separation; also by way of business mediation online or arbitration online.
Succession and share purchases.

Typical issues

The questions often concern

who owns the results, software and data of a cooperation,
how decisions are made when the partners disagree,
how a partner can exit and what then happens to shared rights,
whether a cooperation already amounts to a partnership and who is liable,
which legal form suits a project,
how a dispute between shareholders or partners can be resolved.

Getting started

Send me the cooperation agreement or articles of association, if any, and a short description by email. Where resolutions are to be challenged, short deadlines often apply; please get in touch as early as possible. You can write to me in English or German. Procedure and fees, including for the initial contact, are set out under How we work together.