Are you considering opening a franchise? Franchising offers a unique opportunity to start a business with a proven model and established brand. However, the legal complexities involved can be overwhelming. Our experienced team of lawyers at Procido provide comprehensive legal guidance to help you through your franchising journey.
International:
Advising foreign (i.e. non-Canadian) franchisors on corporate, governance, contract, and intellectual property law who wish to enter the Canadian market and establish a franchise. We also advise Canadian franchisors wishing to enter non-Canadian markets and expand their franchising to other non-Canadian jurisdictions. Procido LLP has a network of contacts to lawyers and law firms in various jurisdictions globally.
Corporate and Governance:
Establishment of corporation or other legal entity to own assets of the franchise and establish appropriate governance to properly operate the franchise. Procido also creates and maintains all corporate records for franchise corporation or other entity.
Contracts:
Intellectual property (trademark, patent, copyright, trade-secrets, know-how) protection and enforcement in contractual provisions; licensing/transfer and use; Privacy law compliance; Preparation of required disclosure information to comply with applicable franchise law in operating jurisdiction(s); Provision of a comprehensive and annotated Franchise Agreement template to be tailored for the particular franchise; Negotiating, amending and executing Franchise Agreements with franchisees; Termination of a Franchise Agreement with a franchisee; Winding up a franchise.
Financing:
Advising on creation of tailored financing programs to assist franchisees to purchase a franchise. Advising franchisor as borrower on financing to cover costs to create a franchise.
Real Estate:
Purchase or lease of land and/or buildings for franchise.
Compliance:
Provision of advisory services on required franchise-specific compliance obligations in the jurisdiction where your franchise operates.
Transactions:
Procido can assist during all stages of transaction including purchase or sale of an entire franchise, amalgamation of franchises, due diligence on intellectual property as well as corporate, commercial and contracts as part of a possible purchase or sale transaction.
Resolution in case of a business dispute:
Intellectual property rights enforcement. Advisory on Mediation, Arbitration, and Litigation.
Corporate:
Establishment of corporation or other legal entity to own franchise and enter into Franchise Agreement. We also advise on creation and maintenance of all corporate records for franchise corporation and ongoing compliance with corporate laws.
Contracts:
Review and negotiation of disclosure and Franchise Agreement, including advising on obligations related to intellectual property rights of Franchisor, termination of a Franchise Agreement and winding up of a franchise.
Financing:
Acting for franchisee as borrower if financing is required to purchase a franchise.
Real Estate:
Purchase or lease of land and/or buildings for franchise.
Employment:
Review, negotiation, drafting and execution of required Employment Agreements or Independent Contractor Agreements.
Procurement:
Review, negotiation, drafting and execution of required Supply Contracts for goods and services to operate the franchise;
Compliance:
Provision of advisory services on required franchise-specific compliance obligations in your jurisdiction.
Transactions:
Procido can assist during all stages of transaction including purchase or sale of an individual franchise, purchase or sale of an individual existing franchise, and purchaser or seller due diligence on franchise.
Resolution in case of a business dispute:
Intellectual property rights defense from infringement claims from Franchisor,. Advisory on Mediation, Arbitration, and Litigation.
Legal Project Management
Procido LLP lawyer Chad Eggerman is certified Project Management Professional and applies his knowledge of project management to benefit you and to lead teams in managing projects for you to be more efficient and save you money while increasing the quality of our deliverables to you.
We find it a bit sad that we need to state that at Procido LLP we are firm which uses project management to advise clients, but many law firms do not and instead rely on individual lawyers to manage files on their own and in silos. Procido LLP legal project management starts from the outset of our engagement with you – we prepare a Budget and Workplan as part of our fee estimate. We think through what work you need done and define a scope for that and then we break that scope up into management chunks with milestones to meet and then assign resources to undertake this works. It all sounds obvious, but is not widely adopted at law firms in Canada.
Procido LLP offers flexible payment options ranging from billable hour to fixed fee through to a monthly subscription fee for a defined scope of work. For example, we may charge a single fixed fee for our Franchise Agreement template and flat fees for incorporation but provide advisory services pursuant to a billable hour payment model. We can tailor a proposal for you based on the required scope of work.