Franchise Law Firm Overview
At Protonentis & Remley, P.A., our attorneys have over 45 years of combined franchise law and litigation experience. By providing in-depth business analysis along with legal guidance, we help clients quickly cut to the chase, make informed business decisions and achieve their business objectives. If disputes arise, we apply our creative problem solving ability and our extensive background in complex business litigation toward resolving issues within business perspectives.
Franchise Regulations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires franchisors to prepare a disclosure document called a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) that complies with the FTC guidelines for providing information that explains the franchised business opportunity being offered. The FDD must be presented to a prospective franchise purchaser 14 calendar days prior to signing a franchise agreement or paying any franchise fee to the franchisor. This federal law did not preempt the states from enacting more restrictive franchise legislation, and nineteen have elected to do so by either requiring pre-sale registration with their state franchise regulators or by controlling franchised business relationships within their boundaries, or both. Some states regulate franchising through their business opportunity laws and require pre-sale registration of state-specific disclosure documents, but will grant an exemption from registration if certain conditions are met. more…
Summary of Practices
At Protonentis & Remley, P.A., we provide legal services in these franchise areas:
- Start-Up Franchisors - Often an entrepreneur develops a successful business concept and wants to launch a franchise system to expand his or her business nationally. We work with start-up franchisors to help them structure their franchise offerings and assess their business development needs. We prepare all the required legal documents, secure state franchise registrations, and develop programs to assist them in maintaining compliance with all the state and federal laws that regulate franchising.
- Existing Franchisors For existing franchisors, we provide on-going legal services, such as annual updates of their FDD’s and renewal of their state registrations. We also work with franchisors to enhance their existing FDD’s, offer legal training for their franchise sales staff and key management, and provide other professional services as the franchise system matures and needs arise. Visit our Franchisors section for more detailed information.
- Franchisees - For individuals that are considering the purchase of a franchised business, we provide legal services and analyze the franchise offering to help prospective purchasers make informed business-investment decisions. We carefully study every aspect of the disclosure (FDD) and terms of the franchise agreement to provide our franchisee clients a comprehensive written analysis they can rely upon to develop a "win-win" business relationship with their franchisor.
- Dispute Resolution & Litigation - – Any number of disputes may arise in franchising, and we resolve some by negotiating business solutions, and others by representing clients in mediation, arbitration and litigation to resolve disputes in their best interests.
- Alternatives to Franchising - We also provide services to clients who are considering similar alternatives to franchising and want to avoid the regulatory compliance involved with the federal and state franchise investment laws.
