FRANCHISING
Services for Franchisors
Franchise Law Team
Franchise Law Team
Services for Franchisors
Einbinder & Dunn’s attorneys have extensive experience representing start-up, emerging, and established franchisors. Our firm provides a full range of services in all aspects of developing, operating, restructuring and expanding franchisor businesses.
We represent large national and international franchisor clients in a variety of industries, including restaurant services, fashion businesses, home maintenance and improvement, hotel and lodging, business services, technology, real estate, pet food and pet care, professional services and childcare services. For these clients, we focus on corporate structuring and planning, updating documents to address any operational difficulties and that help insulate the franchisor from common pitfalls in the franchisor-franchisee relationship, real estate representation, dispute avoidance and resolution, and ongoing compliance with franchising regulations and laws.
For start-up or emerging franchisors, our attorneys assist in determining whether franchising is the best method to further develop the business, developing a franchise system, drafting FDDs and other agreements, and filing FDDs for state registration where necessary.
For all franchisor clients, we provide the full range of legal services:
- Preparation and registration of FDDs
- Preparation of a detailed memorandum analyzing the franchisor’s current disclosure document and agreements along with proposed modifications
- All matters relating to franchise law compliance and the development of an in-house compliance department
- Negotiating and closing franchise sales
- All matters relating to the franchisor-franchisee relationship, including dispute avoidance and resolution
- Drafting any and all agreements
- The best methods to protect and license trademarks, trade secrets and other intellectual property
- All real estate matters, including property acquisition, leases and subleases and drafting agreements with third parties
- Methods to minimize legal and business risk exposure in connection with the franchise system
- The development of the optimal corporate structure for enabling the franchisor and its affiliates to separate their various streams of revenue from one another, thereby shielding valuable assets from possible litigation
- Day-to-day business counseling
FRANCHISOR LITIGATION & ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Given our extensive experience in both litigation and franchise law, we are well-qualified to represent franchise clients in disputes. Our firm advocates for clients in federal and state courts nationwide and in various alternative dispute resolution forums across the U.S., including the AAA, JAMS, FranArb and the London Court of International Arbitration. Our franchise attorneys have served and are available to serve as neutral arbitrators and mediators as well.
Our firm advises and advocates for clients in litigation, arbitrations and mediations involving various aspects of franchisor-franchisee relationships, including:
- Breach of contract claims
- Renewal agreement disputes
- Non-Competition agreement disputes
- Franchise encroachment claims
- Advertising and marketing fund disputes
- Site selection and support disputes
- Fraud claims
- Trademark and trade dress cases
FRANCHISOR CLAIMS
Broadly speaking, lawsuits by franchisors are usually brought to: (i) protect intellectual property rights; (ii) enforce system standards; (iii) enforce non-competition obligations; and/or (iv)recover money owed. At all stages of any lawsuit we prioritize the client’s business goals and providing clear guidance as to the dispute resolution process in order to most effectively manage our clients’ resources.
Our trial lawyers have years of experience representing franchise clients in litigation, bringing and defending claims throughout the United States related to the enforcement of intellectual property rights; system standards violations; and seeking various forms of financial relief. We tailor our litigation strategy for each client and advocate fiercely for their best interests, remaining cognizant that the decisions made in litigation today can impact our clients’ interests in the future.