A business dispute is a commercial problem before it is a legal one.
That framing changes what you do first. The goal is not to win an argument. It is to reach a commercial outcome at a cost proportionate to what is at stake. Sometimes that means litigation. Often it does not.
Either way, the work you do in the first fortnight shapes everything that follows.
Before taking any routine step, ask whether assets, evidence, relationships or operations face an immediate threat.
Could money, property, data or evidence be moved, changed or lost? Is a temporary agreement or urgent legal relief needed to preserve the status quo? Most disputes do not need that. The ones that do need it immediately, and sending a strongly worded email first can be the thing that triggers the loss.
Claims, notices and applications may be subject to statutory, contractual or procedural time limits.
Work out the earliest possible deadline and how it was calculated. Then have a lawyer confirm whether negotiations or another process affect it. Do not assume they do. A letter of demand does not stop a limitation period, and neither does a contractual dispute process, unless something specific says otherwise.
This is the cheapest advice you will ever pay for, and it prevents the most expensive mistake.
Verify company names, ACNs, trustees, guarantors and the relevant individuals. Pursuing the wrong entity makes a dispute harder to resolve and can waste months.
Then work out who has authority to negotiate, settle or commence proceedings, on both sides. Negotiating with someone who cannot bind their company is a common and expensive way to lose time.
Once a dispute is anticipated, relevant records should be preserved in their original form.
Suspend deletion, overwriting and routine destruction where appropriate. Secure emails, messages, files, metadata, recordings and physical records. Do this before anyone helpfully tidies up an inbox.
And gather the governing documents properly. Operative rights are usually spread across the signed agreement, schedules, variations, policies and later communications, not in the one document you remember signing.
A reliable timeline helps you test the facts, locate documents and explain the dispute efficiently. Give each key event a date, the people involved and a supporting document. Mark the gaps and the disputed events clearly rather than papering over them.
Then separate what happened from what each party says the contract or law requires. Which obligations are said to have been breached? Which important facts are agreed, disputed, or simply unknown right now?
That last category is usually bigger than people expect, and it is where cases turn.
Fifteen steps across urgency and documents, evidence and remedies, and strategy and court readiness. Includes a matter details page and a readiness tracker to work through with your lawyer.
Payment? Performance? Termination? A restraint? A declaration? Strategy depends entirely on the answer.
Quantify the loss and support it with invoices, accounts, forecasts or other evidence. Then consider recovery realistically. A legally strong claim against a company with no assets is not a good claim. Check insurance too, and notify it without delay and in accordance with the policy, because late notification can void cover.
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Many commercial contracts require notices, executive negotiation, mediation or expert determination before court action.
Find out what applies and what timeframes attach. Skipping a precondition can delay or undermine the step you are trying to take. It can also hand the other side a procedural argument that has nothing to do with the merits.
If timing may be critical, get advice before you work through the rest. Call us on (02) 8201 0051. Leo Lawyers acts for businesses on commercial disputes, urgent applications and litigation in New South Wales and Victoria.
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