Resources
MISSOURI
Blackwell
Sanders Peper Martin LLP
www.blackwellsanders.com
Kansas City - St. Louis - Omaha - Springfield
Washington, D.C. - London
Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP
is a leading commercial law firm in the Midwest, recognized nationally for
transactional and litigation practice. Corporate Board Member magazine has
consistently ranked the firm as one of the Best Corporate Law Firms in
America. With over 300 lawyers, concentration is focused on more than 45
significant practice areas including: franchising and distribution,
intellectual property, labor and employment, securities and finance, real
estate, mergers and acquisitions, creditors rights and bankruptcy, litigation,
employee benefits & executive compensation and estate planning.
Our firm has earned the trust of
Fortune 500, multinational, middle-market public companies and some of the
largest privately held companies in the United States. Many of these clients
are global leaders in their industries, including agribusiness, energy,
finance, manufacturing, communications, transportation, franchising, design and
engineering. Our lawyers have earned distinction for legal strategies and
innovative solutions provided to meet the business and regulatory challenges of
our clients in these industries.
The Franchising & Distribution
practice focuses on the design, implementation, financing and maintenance of
franchise and distribution businesses. Our franchise attorneys coordinate work
with practice areas vital to franchise and distribution clients, such as
Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Real Estate, Securities, Mergers
& Acquisitions, Tax and Antitrust.
Our services include proactive
counseling to franchise and distribution clients. Our franchise attorneys
design policies and procedures aimed at maintaining positive relationships
between franchisors or suppliers and their franchisees and distributors. Legal
and business guidance is provided to start-up companies in the development
stages of their franchise and distribution concepts.
The franchise practice covers
federal and state regulatory compliance, area development and single-unit
franchise offerings, development of non-franchise distribution systems,
relationship issues, dispute resolution, trademarks and licensing of
intellectual property, capital raising and acquisitions. Practice experience
and expertise is used to effectively and efficiently assist clients in defining
and achieving development goals.
Donald A. Culp, chair of Blackwell
Sanders Franchise & Distribution department, has long been recognized as
an industry expert in franchising and distribution law and has guided clients
in structuring, implementing and maintaining comprehensive franchise systems in
product and service industries. Don is a frequent speaker at legal symposiums
and seminars on franchising and distribution. He is listed in Best Lawyers in
America: 1997 through 2006.
Wade Kerrigan, focuses primarily in
the areas of Franchising & Distribution, Mergers & Acquisitions,
Intellectual Property and Technology. He provides emerging technology companies
legal and business guidance that helps them strategically plan corporate
alliances, technology development and intellectual property protection.
wkerrigan@blackwellsanders.com
John Moore, focuses on federal and
state regulatory compliance for franchisors and acquisition, financing and
securities offerings.
Christina L. Weis, concentrates her
practice in general corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions and
franchising. She advises clients on franchise transactions and counsels
clients with respect to the formation of business entities, management and
transformation of contractual relationships, asset and stock acquisitions and
compliance with securities regulation.
Michelle Gruber, an Associate of
Blackwell Sanders, directs her attention to commercial transactions and
assisting clients on franchising issues.
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
700 Lawyers in: Chicago Kansas
City Los Angeles New York St. Louis
San Francisco Short Hills, N.J. Washington, D.C. West Palm Beach
Sonnenschein's Antitrust,
Marketing Practices and Franchising/Distribution Practice Group is a core
component of the firm. Well-recognized for its ability to combine legal
knowledge and customized solutions with a detailed, practical understanding of
the businesses with which it deals, this practice is involved in all aspects of
franchising, distribution and licensing, both domestically and internationally.
Long standing relationships with major franchising and distribution companies,
manufacturers and suppliers, such as food servicesincluding McDonald'shotels
and lodging, real estate brokerage offices, windows, pharmacies, water
treatment and retail sales, all provide Sonnenschein attorneys with a broad
perspective of franchise and distribution operations.
Our lawyers bring winning legal strategies
based on more than 30 years of experience as leaders in counseling clients on
franchising and distribution matters, whether statutory or common law. Our
franchise clients often rely on us for every aspect of their business:
everything from corporate transactions to franchise regulatory services,
dispute resolution to licensing, intellectual property and e-commerce.
Alan Silberman
(Chicago), a former Chair of the Section of Antitrust Law of the American Bar
Association, chairs our Antitrust, Marketing Practices and
Franchising/Distribution Practice Group. National section chairs are Robert
Joseph (Antitrust), Robert King, Jr. (Franchising/Distribution),
and Christopher "Kit" Smith (Marketing Practices). Mr.
Joseph (Chicago) is immediate past Chair of the ABA Antitrust Section. Mr.
King (Chicago) is a widely respected commercial litigator with more
than 25 years of trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts
nationwide; he concentrates in franchise, antitrust and intellectual property litigation,
as well as class action defense work. Rochelle Spandorf (Los
Angeles), a former Chair of the ABA Forum on Franchising, was in 2005 named a
Southern California "Super Lawyer" in the field of Franchise &
Dealership in a peer survey conducted by Law & Politics Media, Inc.; she
has twice chaired The State Bar of California Franchise Law Committee.
John Baer
(Chicago) serves on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Franchising and
holds the position of Publications Officer; he is Chair of the Illinois
Attorney General's Franchise Advisory Board, Editor of the CCH Sales
Representative Law Guide, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the
International Journal of Franchising Law.
Messrs. Silberman, Joseph and Baer,
Ms. Spandorf, and Stephen Rovak
(St. Louis) have been selected for inclusion in An International Who's Who of
Business Lawyers, Franchise (2004-2005). Other lawyers, including James
Goniea (San Francisco), John Koski (Chicago), Reid
Ashinoff (New York), Curtis Woods and Ed Marquette
(Kansas City), are nationally and internationally recognized authorities in
these areas as well. Many of our lawyers are prominently involved in activities
of the ABA Forum on Franchising, the ABA Antitrust Section, the International
Franchise Association, the International Bar Association and other
organizations.
Sonnenschein attorneys regularly
advise, prepare documents, negotiate and litigate on behalf of clients in all
fundamental areas in this field.
We can:
- Develop
concepts and plans for new distribution and franchising arrangements,
modify existing franchise systems, and structure new franchise programs;
- Develop
and negotiate transactions that implement distribution and franchising
arrangements on a national and international basis;
- Represent
clients in litigation, arbitration and mediation involving franchise,
distribution and licensing disputes;
- Prepare
Offering Circulars for franchisors and register them in the 14 states
requiring some type of registration or filing;
- Prepare
domestic and international agency, sales representative and licensing
agreements;
- Provide
counseling regarding a franchisor's or manufacturer's reserved
distribution rights and various types of geographic and market-based
encroachment issues;
- Assist
with acquisition or sale of franchising companies, and their integration
into existing franchise or distribution operations;
- Assist
clients with B2B and other electronic commerce issues involving
franchising and distribution;
- Structure
documents and procedures to comply with federal and state law and
regulations;
- Develop
operational standards and manuals, and enforcement of operational
standards, procedures and customer relations practices;
- Navigate
clients through inspection and audit rights and reporting
responsibilities;
- Recommend
pricing strategies, review pricing practices, sales and promotion
programs, and advertising practices;
- Assist
with trademark and copyright issues;
- Handle
bankruptcy and reorganization of distributors or franchises;
- Represent
distributor or franchisee associations; and
- Resolve
default and termination issues.
For more information, please
contact:
In Kansas City:
I. Edward Marquette, 816.460.2405
emarquette@sonnenschein.com
Curtis E. Woods, 816.460.2425
cwoods@sonnenschein.com