ABSTRACT
Legal due diligence is central to the entire due diligence programme because it forms the basis for the sale and purchase agreement. One of the main tasks of legal due diligence is reporting on any litigation or disputes affecting the target company. Legal due diligence covers a multitude of specialities as well as the more obvious legal areas such as title, consents and releases, and regulatory issues. The legal due diligence advisers should help identify what needs to be done so that consents and releases do not delay the transaction. Briefing advisers is an important part of due diligence management, and a good briefing is doubly important in the case of legal advisers. As well as conducting a search on the target and its subsidiaries, the legal advisers probably search the seller too, just to check it has the powers to sell the target company. Special accreditations may be central to a target company's profitability.
