Franchising

The key to a successful franchise is knowing the business and understanding the industry. Madgwicks’ Franchising team has experience across a variety of franchise industries representing both franchisors and franchisees.

Our Franchise team is made up of lawyers from across our Business Services and Property areas, enabling the group to address the broad nature of legal needs associated with establishing and operating a franchise system. A key part of our service delivery is partner accessibility and in-depth industry knowledge.

The team is an active member of the Franchise Council of Australia and has an established network of accountants, business advisors and brokers to assist where required. The group also has strong links with franchising lawyers at Meritas member firms across Australia and globally and work with these firms to service your legal needs outside of Victoria.

In addition to our franchise model expertise, our lawyers also have extensive experience advising groups that operate under forms of structures including cooperatives and strategic alliances.

Our franchising team has extensive experience acting for a number of high profile franchisors with well established systems and brand names in Australia, across a range of industries. The team has provided advice to franchise and cooperative structure clients in industries including food manufacturing, fast food, retail lighting, retail fashion, retail clothing and sporting goods, property and finance. 

The services we provide in the Franchising area include:

•  Franchise agreements and disclosure documents;
• Advice on business structures appropriate for franchise systems;
• Franchising Code of Conduct Compliance;
• Trade Practices advice including ACCC notification/authorisations;
• Acquisition, disposal, joint venture and partnership advice;
• Supplier and terms of trade agreements;
• Workplace Relations;
• Commercial and retail leasing, as well as general property advice;
• Tax, duty and GST advice;
• Litigation and dispute resolution; and
• Advice on branding, intellectual property and trade marks.

Our experience in Franchising includes:

• Acting for a well known UK retail luxury accessory brand in establishing it’s franchise operations across Australia;
• Acting for a serviced apartment franchise system;
• Acting for a recognised fast food retail franchise organisation;
• Numerous roles in advising franchisees in relation to franchising and franchise renewal opportunities;
• Development of a comprehensive securities program, involving securing over 1800 trading accounts for one of Australia’s largest retail cooperatives; and 
• Drafting franchise agreements and associated documentation for a multinational clothing retailer.