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Gathering Storm

By Rupert M. Barkoff
November 30, 2009

There is an insidious trend developing in the franchise sales arena: Lawyers are being sued when bad things happen to a franchisee as a result of alleged defects or misdeeds in the franchise sales process.

As reported in the franchise press, most prominently by Janet Sparks in Franchise Times, several suits are now pending where, when a franchisee failed, the franchisee has named the outside law firm for the franchisor as a defendant. Sparks indicates that in these cases, there have been points ' often not well-delineated ones ' where lawyers, in addition to acting incompetently as lawyers, have crossed the line and have become actively engaged in the franchise sales process ' that is, in promoting franchise sales and otherwise acting more like a franchise sales person than a legal adviser.

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