Jason M. Murray

The firm serves clients from its offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Stuart, Tallahassee, Tampa, The Florida Keys, Vero Beach, Winter Park, and its headquarters in West Palm Beach. With more than 180 attorneys and 200 committed support staff, Gunster is ranked among the National Law Journal’s list of the 500 largest law firms and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Diverse Law Firms by Law360.

Gunster advises on all areas of franchise and distribution law. From contract negotiation to dispute resolution and regulatory counsel, our firm represents the full array of significant players within the franchise and distribution system. Our attorneys are committed to understanding many different points of view, as well as to knowing what drives decision-making in this highly specialized area of practice.

Our firm is dedicated to negotiating creative, out-of-the-box solutions that have the potential to result in a win-win approach to problem solving, deal-making and dispute resolution. Our goal is to provide multi-dimensional perspective and practical legal advice that reflects our integrated practice in creating, managing, licensing, developing, protecting and enforcing franchised business relationships, product distribution systems and dealership networks.

The No. 1 thing prospective franchisor/franchisee clients should look for in an attorney is commitment to understanding many different points of view within franchise and distribution systems. Commitment to understanding different viewpoints fosters creative solutions that have the potential to result in a win-win approach to problem solving, deal-making and dispute resolution.

Serving as a key business advisor and problem solver that assist clients in achieving their business goals.

My top concerns for the franchise industry involve immigration, labor and employment. The current political climate is calling for a more restrictive immigration policy. These policies may adversely affect several sectors in the franchise industry such as lodging & hospitality, quick service restaurants, table/full service restaurants, and personal services to name a few.

Many of these sectors have relied on new arrivals for their labor force and the labor force for their supply chains. Additionally, several of these sectors have served as pathways to business ownership for new arrivals using immigration visa programs such as E-2 and EB-5. In addition to immigration policy impacting the sale of franchises and the labor force for many sectors, the franchise industry also is still facing uncertainty concerning possible findings from the National Labor Relations Board that franchisors can be held liable for labor mistakes from franchisees if the NLRB embrace a “joint employer” view and interpretation of certain employment laws.

Because the economy is growing and creating jobs, I expect that consumer spending will increase and fuel the growth of the franchise industry. The recently passed Tax Cut and Jobs Act should further enhance consumer spending over the next couple of years. I am optimistic that franchise industry will experience growth in the next year.