How We Work
One standard. A course defined by the matter.
The same standards of judgment, preparation and responsibility govern each matter. The stages undertaken depend on the circumstances, the Firm's role and the agreed scope.
The sequence is disciplined; the pace is set by the principal. A family, a founder or an owner is entitled to move at the speed of its own deliberation, and the Firm adjusts to that speed rather than to a market calendar.
Nothing in this sequence promises a transaction. The method is as useful to an owner who decides to retain as to one who decides to dispose.
The eight stages below describe the full course of a matter. Not every mandate passes through every stage: a limited assessment remains a limited assessment unless further work is expressly agreed. The Firm governs the process within its mandate — not the independent professional judgment of appointed specialists — and no stage guarantees a particular outcome.
Execution should follow understanding — not substitute for it.
Completion of an assignment may lead to a separately agreed continuing mandate, with its own scope, reviews, reporting and remuneration. It is never assumed at the outset.
Stage 01
Understanding the situation
Establishing the client's circumstances, objectives and constraints, and the underlying question the matter actually poses — before advising on it.
Stage 02
Constituting the matter
Agreeing the contracting parties, the scope, who holds authority to decide and instruct, the basis of remuneration, and the professional boundaries of the Firm's role.
Stage 03
Reconstructing the evidence
Separating verified facts from assumptions, disputed information and unresolved questions across the financial, legal, operational and ownership record — and establishing what is still missing.
Stage 04
Clarifying the alternatives
Setting out the courses genuinely open — including retaining, adapting, restructuring, waiting, or that no transaction should proceed — with consequences, dependencies and costs stated honestly.
Stage 05
Preparing the chosen course
Determining the structure the chosen course requires: the professional capabilities, the dependencies between them and the sequence in which decisions must be taken.
Stage 06
Engaging the appropriate professionals
Engaging lawyers, tax advisers, valuers, notaries, lenders and other specialists, each with a defined responsibility, so that their conclusions can be integrated coherently. Each remains responsible for conclusions within their own discipline.
Stage 07
Coordinating execution
Governing progression: tracking evidence, deadlines, authorisations, unresolved contradictions and decisions that exceed the Firm's authority and must be escalated.
Stage 08
Defining what remains
Concluding responsibly: completing the mandate, transferring responsibility appropriately, or stopping the process where progression is not justified — and recording what, if anything, continues and who holds it.
Who carries what
The Firm governs the process, not the people
Within a mandate, responsibilities are divided plainly. Independent professional judgment remains with those appointed to exercise it.
The Firm
- Defines the mandate architecture
- Identifies dependencies
- Coordinates the participants
- Maintains the information environment
- Assesses whether evidence permits progression
- Brings required decisions to the proper authority
- Protects coherence through completion, transfer or stop
The appointed execution professional
- Performs the market-facing or specialist execution assigned to them
- Carries professional responsibility for the work belonging to their role
- Reports relevant evidence and developments into the mandate
The principal
Retains the decisions and authority properly belonging to them.
Specialist professionals
Retain responsibility for legal, tax, technical, financing and other disciplinary conclusions.
The record
A matter is kept as a record: sources, decisions, dependencies and acknowledged uncertainty preserved together. This is what allows continuity to survive a change of personnel or a change of course.
The principle
A mandate does not begin with an assumed outcome. It begins with an agreed brief and an honest account of what is known, what is assumed and what remains unresolved.