Family Business Disputes

Professor Benjamin Means of the University of South Carolina Law School has written a compelling article about the distinguishing characteristics of family business disputes.  In his article, he effectively makes the case that any legal advisor must appreciate that family businesses are governed both by business law and family law – and a practitioner ignores either at his or her peril. Using the recent Market Basket debacle as a spring board, and tying in the much-publicized Harold and Ann Hamm divorce and the three year Los Angeles Dodgers dispute, he delves into the use of LLCs versus corporations as appropriate family business entities, the importance of considering business issues when deciding long-term family matters (and vice versa) and the limitations of contractual relationships inside the family structure. Published in Business Law Today, an ABA Business Law Section publication, and linked here with permission, Professor Means’ article is an excellent resource for family businesses and the lawyers that represent them.