Description

This module looks at those entrepreneurs who operate their businesses as sole traders or as partners within a traditional partnership or an LLP.

We will examine an owner’s liability for debts and study Brittain v Haghighat (2009) in which a court had to decide whether or not a sole trader should lose their family home to pay business debts.

We will study the law of partnerships, the concept of joint and several liability, the risks involved in entering into a traditional partnership without legal advice or without having a written partnership agreement.

Course details

At the end of this course, you will know more about:

• the options owners of a new business have when selecting a business legal structure
• the legal obligations involved when setting up as a sole trader and the liability and risks for business debts
• the process of invoicing customers and the importance of the cash flow in a business
• a sole trader’s debtors and creditors, bankruptcy and the work of insolvency practitioners
• the role of the trustee in bankruptcy such as selling assets to pay debts and the risk to personal assets, including the family home
• joint and several liability for debt between partners in a general partnership
• dispute resolution in the absence of a written partnership agreement
• some key esential legal English terms for practising commercial law internationally