Share sale vs asset sale: key legal considerations when selling or acquiring a business
Deciding to sell a business built up over the years might be a difficult decision for a seller to make.
Corporate Law
Share options schemes
Share options schemes can help you attract the best people and keep them engaged and motivated..
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Expert legal advice for share options schemes to incentivise your workforce
Why set up a share options scheme?
Share options schemes can be a good way to attract, retain and motivate the best people for your business. Our established team of commercial lawyers can advise whether this is for you, and if so which among the many options out there is the right one.
What is share option scheme and who is it for?
These are sometimes referred to as an employee share scheme (ESS), an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), employee share plans or employee ownership plans. They give employees the right to buy shares in the business, giving them motivation and a stake in the company’s future success. Share options can apply to key managerial staff only or across the board to all employees in your business.
"We don't have the need to employ law firms very often, but the team at Tees made the process of our share sale very easy to understand. For anyone not used to the legal process, I would recommend Tees as they are very easy to work with. " Legal 500 UK, 2026
What can we do for you?
Whether you are a start-up or a well-established firm, setting up share options schemes can look like a daunting task. We have a specialised team of share options schemes solicitors to give you expert legal advice and help you implement the right plans. They are an excellent way to give your employees a stake in the business, and can be structured to provide tax benefits as well.
Our expertise
Our share options schemes lawyers can help you with:
- Short term incentive plans
- Long term incentive plans
- Approved schemes
- Approved savings related schemes
- Executive share option schemes
- Employee share option schemes
Legal and financial advice
Our experts can help with all aspects of selecting and implement the right plan for your business. As a full-service top-tier Legal 500 firm, we have all the back-up you might need for any other legal issues that might arise.
We have deep market knowledge across all sectors and sizes of business. We also have an in-house team of experienced independent financial advisers to help with other financial matters.
Our experience with share options schemes
Key people
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What our clients say
★★★★★
“Communication is absolutely essential, and the team dealt with our case with such outstanding communication right from the beginning. They were prompt to reply to the other legal team, which was so reassuring during such a stressful time. They were always excellent in ensuring that our understanding of all procedures and processes was clear. ”
Legal 500 2026
★★★★★
“Claire Powell is a credit to this firm; responsive, polite and professional. Also extremely prompt and thorough right through the process. Genuinely impressed with such commitment to communication and updates.”
Legal 500 2026
★★★★★
“The team were very easy to speak to and understand, and took great lengths to make everything clear to us.”
Legal 500 2026
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