When a client comes to you wanting to start or restructure a business, the first question is always the same: what legal form should it take? That single decision determines who owns the business, who is personally liable if things go wrong, how it is taxed, and what formalities it must follow. Getting it right — and explaining the trade-offs clearly — is core work for any solicitor advising businesses.
This lesson takes you through the full range of structures, from the simplest sole trader to the public limited company, and shows you how to tell them apart and apply them to a client's needs.
What this lesson covers:
- Overview and Key Concepts — the full menu of entities, plus separate legal personality and limited versus unlimited liability.
- Sole Trader and General Partnership — the simplest structures and how a partnership arises without any formality.
- Liability and Authority of Partners — how partners bind the firm and when they are personally liable.
- Default Rules, Duties and Dissolution — the rules that apply where partners haven't agreed otherwise.
- Limited Partnership (LP) — the registered hybrid with capped and uncapped partners.
- Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) — a separate legal person with limited liability and partnership-style tax.
- Private Company Limited by Shares (Ltd) — the most common corporate form and what it takes to set one up.
- Public Limited Company (plc) — the features that allow it to raise capital from the public.
- Other Company Types — companies limited by guarantee and unlimited companies.
- Corporate Personality, Veil-Piercing and Groups — when separateness holds and the narrow cases where courts look behind it.
- Comparing the Entities — the key differences side by side to guide your advice.