Los Angeles, CA commercial litigation attorney Steven Morris talks about how to maintain your business while you are fighting over it. He emphasizes that maintaining the value of a business during disputes is critically important. His firm handles many “business divorces,” which involve partners who no longer wish to remain in a partnership or individuals who want to exit a corporation. This type of situation is common and, in the life of any enterprise, is likely to arise at some point.

When preparing documents such as operating agreements and partnership agreements, he plans for the possibility that partners may want to separate in the future, providing a smooth, efficient, and objective mechanism for that separation. However, most cases brought to the firm involve disputes where such planning was not done, and the partnership agreements lack clear provisions.

In those circumstances, while the disputing parties may be uncooperative, he stresses the importance of maintaining a working relationship with the opposition to preserve the business’s value. He often says that the goal is to “preserve the size of the pie while determining how to split it.” His approach balances cooperation with aggressive advocacy, ensuring that his client’s interests are protected while maximizing and maintaining the value of the business asset.

He also advocates for keeping tensions low by engaging in alternative dispute resolution processes when possible, such as mediation or arbitration. In cases where parties refuse to agree—even when agreement would benefit the business—he may involve a neutral third party, like a third director, to assist in resolution. The strategy is always to combine assertive protection of his client’s rights with efforts to preserve the business’s overall value for the ultimate division.