A full-service, national firm with lawyers and professional business staff coast to coast, we assemble a hand-crafted team for every client to get to the right answer, achieve the ideal resolution, and deliver the best experience for you.
Industry Sector(s)
Akerman LLP will be exhibiting at:
The National Franchise Exhibition
Franchise team service philosophy
The Akerman franchise team specialises in servicing companies who rely on the franchise or licensing model to distribute some or all of their products or services to consumers in the United States and across the globe. We provide value to franchise clients in accordance with following fundamental pillars of service:
Efficiency
Using proprietary and non-proprietary technology, highly refined processes, data analytics, and experiential learning, the Akerman franchise team provides fast, efficient, and best-in-class service to franchise management and legal teams and the eco-system that supports them. The Akerman approach results in quicker and more accurate updates to franchise disclosure documents, significantly shorter “dark periods” during the state renewal process, accelerated turnaround times for negotiated addenda and other documents, and faster resolution of legal challenges faced by franchisors.
Effectiveness
Several professionals on the Akerman franchise team have experience working inside of franchise companies and understand that legal issues must be addressed in alignment with business objectives.
The Akerman franchise team also appreciates that some challenges require the assistance of professionals with expertise in technology, finance, business consulting, accounting, and other disciplines in order to achieve best outcomes. This combination of in-house service and a culture of collaboration with outside professionals enables the Akerman franchise team to partner with the firm’s clients to collectively advance the business interests of franchise systems while developing innovative and effective approaches to mitigate or eliminate legal risks associated with various business decisions.
Predictability
Many law firms specialize in selling time to clients. The Akerman franchise team provides solutions to the legal, regulatory, and franchise relationship challenges faced by clients. We believe the cost for those solutions should be predictable, and that the firm should share in some of the risk if the time invested by Akerman franchise team members exceeds the value assigned to the matter by the client. Consequently, we offer our franchise clients a variety of fee arrangements, including monthly retainers, fixed fees, capped fees, success fees, and budgeted fee options. This approach provides budget certainty and ensures that clients feel comfortable reaching out to our team before an “issue” becomes an expensive “problem” in the franchise system.
What we do
With offices strategically located in cities that are home to many of the nation’s emerging and established franchise brands, the firm is well positioned to provide the broadest range of services required by any franchisor, including:
- Drafting and maintenance of franchise disclosure documents
- Managing state franchise registrations
- Franchise mediation, arbitration, and litigation
- Acquisition and sale of franchise systems
- Acquisition and sale of operating units
- Transfers of franchised operating units between franchisees
- Negotiation and preparation of franchise agreements and related addenda
- Franchise relationship counselling
- Trademark and intellectual property protection
- International in-bound franchise counselling
- International out-bound franchise counselling
- Franchise bankruptcy and restructuring
- Franchise-related real estate and development
- Employment and joint employer counselling
- Franchise-related tax matters
Awards and rankings
- Ranked Nationwide for Franchising by Chambers USA
- Recognized as Franchise Times 2026 Legal Eagles
- Ranked Among Top Franchise Industry Law Firms by Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Franchise Suppliers
- Listed in Best Lawyers for Franchise Law
