Our philosophy is simple: Keep the doors of communication open between partners. As a result, our partnership agreements focus on putting every potential conflict down on paper so that walls are not built up between the partners of the veterinary practice(s). We have found during our three decades of representing veterinarians that partnerships are like marriage and must be treated like one. They require constant work, communication, and openness to survive. Some of our most successful and happiest clients are involved in partnerships; however, most of the litigation brought to our law firm is a result of partnerships not having a written, comprehensive partnership agreement in place. As a result, as time goes by, anger, frustration and, ultimately a desire for revenge begin to consume the partner(s) of the partnership.

Our representation goes well beyond the formation, drafting and finalization of the partnership agreement in that our representation focuses on the unique individual members of the partnership and meeting with all the interested parties to develop a common set of goals, beliefs, and desires in attempting to create a partnership that is as unique as the individuals themselves. Some of the important areas that our partnership agreements cover are:

1. Buy-sell rights;
2. Disability – what happens in the event of a partners disability;
3. Death – what happens in the event of a partners death. How do we protect the estate of the deceased veterinarian and how do we protect the surviving veterinarian from financial hardship?
4. Compensation scenarios – unequal production numbers, unequal treatment days, cost control for procedures, etc.
5. Majority/minority rights;
6. Financing issues;
7. Proper entity formation for the partnership; And
8. Competing individual shareholder veterinary practices – how to protect the veterinary practice from the individual partners competing business interests