FRANCHISING - our view
There is no such thing as a typical franchise as the name embraces so many different concepts. Show us a legal arrangement and we can usually say whether it comes within the boundaries of what is generally known as franchising. Certainly, there is no English legal definition and the definition used by the European Commission is vague in the extreme.

As a result, it is difficult to define franchise law or the franchise lawyer. Working with franchisees and franchisors requires experience in many different areas of law:

• Commercial contracts
• Commercial litigation
• Fair Trading and competition law
• Trade and service mark law
• Leasehold and freehold property law
• Employment law
• International and European Law

FRANCHISING - our experience
At Blake Lapthorn Linnell, we have Solicitors based in Southampton, Portsmouth and Oxford who are experienced in all areas of law relevant to franchising. Our leading franchise lawyer and head of our Franchise team, Geoffrey Sturgess, has a wealth of experience of advising franchisors and franchisees.

ADVISING FRANCHISORS
As well as actually writing or adapting your agreement we can advise you whether your business is franchiseable and, if so, the type of franchise you should chose.

Whilst we are prepared to involve ourselves in connection with the grant of each franchise, in many types of franchising this can be dealt with by the franchisor without our assistance. We are happy to assist with setting up systems to allow franchisors to dispense with our services thus keeping our charges to a minimum.

Where, however, the grant of the franchise includes the transfer of premises or substantial assets or the granting of a lease, we recommend that you seek our advice. In these circumstances, we will advise you on the property transaction, as well as advising on the grant of the franchise itself.

We also get involved in franchise re-sales. When acting for franchisors, this involves helping them prepare standard form documentation and procedures to ease this difficult process.

Franchising, unfortunately, is not only about granting franchises. Sometimes it is necessary to terminate franchise agreements or assist franchisors in the defence of claims brought by dissatisfied franchisees. Our aim is to keep you out of court but, if proceedings are inevitable, we have plenty of experience with franchise litigation.

We always try to give practical, helpful advice in a cost-effective way. We believe that our extensive experience in franchising enables us to spend less time and thus less of your money in giving you the best possible advice.

We are sufficiently confident of our ability that we offer up to one hour of our time free to prospective franchisor clients for you to quiz us about your franchise and our approach before you need to decide whether to use us.

INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISING
We can help UK businesses export their franchises overseas or overseas franchisors set up shop in the UK. We will also assist non-UK businesses to identify and deal with UK franchisors willing to grant overseas franchises or master franchises.

ADVISING FRANCHISEES
We believe that our experience of advising franchisors and creating franchise agreements gives us the edge when advising franchisees and prospective franchisees on whether they are getting into a good franchise or how to get out of a bad one. For franchisees we offer:

• fixed fee reporting on franchise agreement and opportunity evaluation (UK only)
• experience of many of the existing franchise opportunities
• the ability to provide advice at a distance - it is not necessary to physically meet us
• out of hours work as required
• Access to the Franchise Information exchange (see below)

It is a source of constant amazement to us how many would be purchasers of lower priced franchises (up to £20,000) take no legal advice before parting with their savings. We probably advise 25% of prospective franchisees who do consult us against buying into their chosen franchise.

It is almost impossible to recover a franchise fee paid to a bad or fraudulent franchisor. Once a franchisee signs up to a franchise agreement, they are usually committed to the full term. If a franchisee walks away from the franchise, the franchisor may try and claim damages equivalent to what they would have expected to receive in monthly fees for the remainder of the term.

FIXED FEE
For a fixed fee of £500 plus VAT, we will advise a prospective franchisee:

• whether we think the franchise is worth having
• how the advance publicity is reflected in the franchise agreement - does it say what you have been told it would
• how good or bad is the agreement itself. What it means and what you should watch out for
• how does the proposal match up to normal or good franchising practice

NETWORK INFORMATION
Sherwin Oliver Solicitors, now part of Blake Lapthorn Linnell were the founding members of the Franchise Information Exchange, a group of BFA affiliated law firms across the UK that exchange information on franchise opportunities, thus giving early warning of franchisors to avoid.

FRANCHISE DISCUSSION GROUP- Networking
We are organisers and hosts of the Franchise Discussion Group, a 6 monthly forum for discussion of franchising issues attended by bankers, franchise advisers and representatives of franchising organisations from all along the south coast of the UK.

Blake Lapthorn Linnell - The Firm
Blake Lapthorn Linnell is one of the largest regional law firms in the UK with offices in Portsmouth, Southampton, Fareham, Oxford and London, made up of 74 partners and 210 fee earners. We also have an associate office in the heart of Brussels, Renauf & Co, which helps us to deal effectively the ever-increasing amount of European Legislation.

Blake Lapthorn Linnell is a member of TAGLaw. Founded in 1998, TAGLaw is a worldwide network of independent law firms selected for their ability to deliver exceptional legal services for all aspects of corporate and commercial work, both contentious and non-contentious. TAGLaw has associated firms in over 80 jurisdictions around the world.

The firm marries the traditional values of a law practice founded over a century ago with a commitment to the future. In this way we strive to offer a breadth of services to our clients that is both innovative and experienced. 

Blake Lapthorn Linnell - The Individuals
Our leading franchise lawyer is Geoffrey Sturgess. Geoffrey qualified in 1980 and until 1989 worked in industry, particularly in the Legal Department of Unigate PLC where he was closely involved in the development of franchising in the retail milk industry. Since 1989 he has worked in private practice on the south coast advising franchisors and franchisees.

Recognised by the British Franchise Association as an experienced franchise lawyer, Geoffrey is the individual within the firm who brings BFA affiliate status to Blake Lapthorn Linnell.

Geoffrey Sturgess organises and hosts the 6 monthly Franchise Discussion Group meetings at our Fareham office and single handedly brought the Franchise Information Exchange into existence. He is an occasional writer and regular speaker on franchising issues.

Rachel Spencer deals with general franchise advice and, in particular prepares reports on franchise agreements for would-be franchisees, Lynda Smedley advises franchisors on employment law issues.

CONTACT DETAILS
For initial contact, please speak to Geoffrey Sturgess or Sarah Crookall at our Southampton office on 023 8063 1823, by email franchiseinfo@bllaw.co.uk or visit our web site http://www.bllaw.co.uk

Blake Lapthorn Linnell
Kings Court
21 Brunswick Place
Southampton
Hampshire
SO15 2AQ

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