We combine deep experience with technical knowledge and insight on current business terms to address any franchise, distribution or brand expansion issue. Our team has decades of experience advising on the structuring and operation of franchise and other brand systems, and we represent brands throughout their life cycles: from start-up and middle market stages to mature systems.
We also help our franchise and brand clients navigate thorny issues that arise during the life of a franchise system, such as: defaults and terminations; dealing with distressed or bankrupt franchisees or supply chain vendors; pre-litigation counseling; responding to inquiries from regulators; injunctions, litigation, arbitration and mediation.
As global brand expansion experts, we also help our franchise and other brand-centric clients expand through franchising, licensing, joint ventures, direct investment and supply chain development. We have worked with brands expanding to almost every commercialized jurisdiction in the world and we are intimately familiar with the franchise and other commonly-applicable laws in each jurisdiction. We also have the knowledge and experience to provide holistic planning, structuring and implementation advice – including tax, trademark, corporate structuring, local labor and employment, real estate and contracts, competition, anti-corruption and compliance issues.
Our team, led by Dallas-based Will Woods, is here to help you grow as your one-stop shop for advice.
Why Baker McKenzie
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| Leader in our field | Broad practice expertise | |||
| We are active in the International Franchise Association, ABA Forum on Franchising and the International Bar Association, and are recognized as industry leaders locally, nationally and internationally by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, the International Who's Who of Franchise Lawyers and Franchise Times. | We are ranked Band 1 Global Market Leaders for Franchising by Chambers Global, with more ranked attorneys than any other firm and described as a "top firm with an international footprint stretching across all continents". |
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| Forefront of franchising | Unparalleled depth and breadth | |||
| Our deep connections in the franchise legal and business communities uniquely position us to provide cutting-edge advice and insight. We leverage our knowledge and experience across multiple industries to benefit our clients. | Supported by a team of highly qualified commercial, compliance, IP, privacy/cybersecurity, antitrust/competition, dispute resolution, corporate, tax and employment lawyers around the world, we are equipped to address all of your franchising, distribution and brand expansion needs. |
Our Services
- Proactive, preventive counseling and best practice advice
- Advice on strategy, structuring and implementation
- Negotiations and closings
- Compliance audits, trainings and seminars to develop internal compliance policies and systems
- Contracts management and digitization
- Document reviews, audits and updates
- Meditation, litigation and arbitration
Key Contacts
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Will K. Woods
Partner- Dallas
+ 1 214 978 3022 Email -
Kevin E. Maher
Partner- Dallas
+ 1 214 978 3085 Email -
Mattias Hedwall
Partner- Stockholm
+ 46 8 56617733 Email -
Katharina Spenner LL.M.
Partner- Munich
+ 49 89 5 52 38 229 Email -
Say Sujintaya
Of Counsel- Bangkok
+ 66 2636 2000 X4546 Email -
Penny Ward
Senior Counsel- Melbourne
+ 61 3 9617 4542 Email -
Esteban Pablo Rópolo
Partner- Buenos Aires
+ 54 11 4310 2263 Email