Lapel guard defenses can be tricky. You need to learn a little lapel guard first before you can really understand how to prevent everything, and the game is complicated and challenging. Your partner has a lot of options.
Fortunately, here are a few tricks to help you simplify the game just a bit. Start here, by understanding how to use a "high step" to clear your leg from three different types of lapel guards:
Make sure you're already familiar with these squid guard defense basics, too. This first grip break involves the step-out from the previous technique, but adds in a stomp to break the grip:
Finally, this one's specific to worm guard. Note that you can break the grip from either side: