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11 December 2015 / Andrew Stafford KC , Carlos Pires
Issue: 7680 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Partners in crime

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Andrew Stafford QC & Carlos Pires analyse dysfunctional partnerships

Life in a partnership is rarely plain sailing. Over time, tensions can emerge as strategies, personalities and remuneration reveal divergent aspirations and perspectives. For the aggrieved LLP member, life may have become more complicated following the High Court decision in Flanagan v Liontrust Investment Partners LLP and others [2015] EWHC 2171 (Ch), [2015] All ER (D) 295.

The significance of the decision lies not in the factual scenario which generated the dispute, but in the judge’s clarification as to the role of the doctrine of repudiatory breach. Mr Justice Henderson ruled that the doctrine did not apply, leaving aggrieved or outgoing LLP members with less leverage and more restrictions than before.

The facts

The claimant—Mr Flanagan—was a member of Liontrust Investment Partners LLP, that ran a hedge fund. His participation was governed by the terms of an LLP agreement and a side letter. In August 2012 Liontrust purported to give him notice of compulsory retirement under the agreement and to place him on garden leave before

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