Potential and existing franchisees (“franchisees”) too frequently determine incorrectly that it is in their best interests to avoid retaining the services of a franchise attorney when purchasing a franchise. Franchisees reaching this wrong conclusion usually justify it based on one or more of the following three reasons. First, many franchisees believe that ‘the law’ prohibits franchisors from making any modifications to the franchise agreement attached to the FDD; this view is definitively wrong. Second, other franchisees believe that the franchisor, even though it is legally permitted to make such modifications, will refuse in all cases to do so; again, this conclusion is not right. Third, some franchisees believe that to the extent no franchise agreement modifications are obtained during negotiations, the advice and counseling provided by a competent franchise attorney during a review process would not be well-spent; and, again, this belief is significantly off the mark.
In addition, some franchisees who have already made up their mind to purchase a franchise avoid consulting an attorney because they fear that the attorney will try to talk them out of their decision. Clearly, many of the franchise termination cases the Firm deals with on a daily basis in courts around the country could have been avoided by the conduct of the franchisee himself or herself had they possessed the rudimentary legal knowledge that is provided during a franchise review by the attorneys at the Goldstein Law Firm, PLLC.
Making matters worse, this client confusion – based on an inability to distinguish between the quality of competing franchise reviews and lawyers – is not cleared up upon completion of the franchise review. Poor quality franchise reviews frequently masquerade as cutting-edge franchise reviews right up until the franchisee receives his or her default or termination notice.
What are Franchise Reviews?
Franchise reviews come in many flavors, shapes, and sizes, and this inconsistency covers both subject matter and lawyers. There is no accepted scope of work associated with a “FDD Review” or “Franchise Review”; there is no uniform definition of the term “FDD Review” or “Franchise Review”. This lack of accepted definition results in franchisees comparing apples to oranges, causing far too many franchisees to purchase a franchise review based on cost of the review alone.
Similarly, there is no required number of years that a lawyer must have practiced in the franchise area; nor is there any requirement regarding whether the lawyer must represent exclusively franchisees and not franchisors. This heterogeneity of quality and experience among lawyers many times, again, leads franchisees to attempt to evaluate the merits of franchise legal review services based only on cost.
Contact Goldstein Law Firm for Your Franchise Business Review
If you are considering a franchise opportunity, it is important to have an experienced attorney on your side. At Goldstein Law Firm, we offer several franchise business review services that are focused on identifying the potential risks associated with buying your chosen franchise. For more information and a free initial consultation, please call (202) 293-3947 or contact us online today.
