00:00:05
My name is Ana Samarjian. I'm a senior director with the Shareholder Representation Team here at SRS Aquiom. Prior to starting at SRS Aquiom, I worked at a large international law firm where I handled high-value disputes.
Having this background and experience helps me act as a stable guiding hand for our clients who are often facing litigation or disputes for the first time. I was working on a case with a set of shareholders who were facing one of the scariest situations shareholders can face.
00:00:33
They were being sued by the buyer for breaching the purchase agreement, and a group of them were also being sued for fraud, where the buyer was demanding the entire multimillion-dollar escrow account and to take back some of the purchase price. SRS Acquiom was brought in to act as the shareholder representative for the selling shareholders in this dispute. The shareholders needed the guidance and expertise of SRS Acquiom because lawyers in our group have more experience working on these scenarios than anyone else.
We had selling shareholders from all over the world, including Europe, Asia, and the U.S., none of whom were based in the U.K., and we had a conflict of interest brewing among a set of the shareholders.
00:01:13
What made this even more interesting is that we were facing a litigation in London courts under English law. The shareholders were nervous facing this litigation because none of them had been sued before, and they were relieved when SRS Acquiom came in with the ability to handle the litigation, hold their hands through the process, and navigate the complexities of dealing with an English law based dispute in a foreign jurisdiction.
00:01:36
Our team of lawyers here at SRS Acquiom handle more post-closing disputes with buyers than anyone else, and our litigation expertise allows us to guide our clients in understanding the steps of the process, how long it will take, the possible on and off ramps for litigation, the possibility of settlement and creative problem solving, to get on the same page with each other, and to convince the buyer to get on the same page with us.
00:02:01
The parties got together on the morning of the mediation, and we were there until late into the night working on trying to find a middle ground and a resolution that could end the litigation.
Getting to yes, in this situation required a deep understanding of the litigation process, knowing what the priorities were of our clients, the shareholders, and the buyer, and being able to negotiate across cultures, languages, time zones, in an effort to try to get us all on the same page. After 14 hours of negotiating, we were able to reach a settlement. The settlement allowed us to end the litigation, dismiss the lawsuit against the shareholders, and allowed the shareholders to reclaim the vast majority of the multi-million dollar escrow account.
00:02:44
We scheduled this mediation one year into the litigation and were able to resolve it right there. If it weren't for this, this lawsuit could have gone on for years. Tying up the shareholders' money and time, getting all the shareholders on the same page when they had different interests would've been nearly impossible if not for the experience of SRS Acquiom.