GP partnership mediation is not only about repairing working relationships. It can also help partners negotiate a clean, confidential and commercially workable exit when continuing together is no longer realistic.

The “green socks” clause gives GP partnerships a non-fault route out of an unworkable relationship, but it must be drafted clearly, used carefully, and handled with a realistic view of legal and reputational risk.

A partnership without a valid, signed partnership agreement will likely be operating as a ‘partnership at will’. This means that instead of working under terms agreed by the partners, the running of your practice is governed by the 1890 Partnership Act. ‘ We have made an active choice not to have a partnership agreement because we all get on fine together ’, is a phrase I often hear, but by choosing to have no partnership agreement, that partnership has - without realising -