Meet Lee Plave: Top Franchise Legal Expert

Lee Plave, a partner at Plave Koch PLC, brings extensive experience in counseling distributors and franchisors. He specializes in drafting and negotiating franchise agreements for complex international and domestic transactions and advises clients on all aspects of franchise and distribution law. Plave also provides guidance on the application of technology to franchise and distribution systems, addressing issues such as social networking, e-commerce, data security, cybersquatting and domain name disputes.

His expertise extends to serving as an expert witness and representing clients before the Federal Trade Commission.

Plave’s numerous accolades include being named Global Franchise Lawyer of the Year by Who’s Who Legal for three consecutive years and receiving the Lexology Client Choice Award for Top Franchise Lawyer in the United States in 2023. Plave is also recognized as a Certified Franchise Executive (IFA) and has been listed in Chambers USA and Chambers Global, among other prestigious directories.

1851 Franchise: What do you see as the most important things a franchisor should do to protect their brand?

Lee Plave: Embrace CCA – a culture of competence, a culture of compliance and a culture of accountability. Those core principles can serve as a guide to seeking operational excellence, which really is the key not just to success, but also to nurturing and protecting the brand.

1851 Franchise: How important is the information in Item 19?

Lee Plave: A prospective franchisee likely wants to see financial performance data, and providing that can sometimes make a substantial difference in offering a franchise. Each franchisor must decide what and how much information — if any — it wishes to provide. Some systems rely on franchisees to provide an assessment.

One challenge for counsel in preparing FPRs [financial performance representations] is that state examiners sometimes demand deletion of explanatory information that can be helpful in putting the data in a real-world context. Although examiners understandably want to prevent a franchisor from disclaiming the data, that can be accomplished through simple text saying “nothing here is a disclaimer” — while the franchisor can still provide detail that is genuinely useful to understanding the circumstances surrounding an FPR.

1851 Franchise: What is the single largest legal mistake brands make?

Lee Plave: Attention to detail in operations is the key to success, and any lack of focus on that will cause business headaches. And … business headaches lead to legal nightmares.

1851 Franchise: How do you stand out as a franchise law firm?

Lee Plave: We don’t monetize every waking moment of our existence and our clients tell us that that resonates with them. Because we’re a relatively small firm that focuses attention on franchising and distribution, we don’t have the trappings, bloat and bureaucracy of a large firm. We typically only represent franchisors and manufacturers, so we rarely have conflicts (which especially comes in handy when we collaborate with national “white shoe” law firms on their clients’ PE transactions).

Our experienced deep bench of 10 partners who work on franchisors’ behalf day-to-day is almost unmatched in the U.S. — and with what our clients tell us are reasonable rates.

1851 Franchise: What is the best business advice you have received in your career?

Lee Plave: Focus on the long-term, maintain that strategic focus and don’t succumb to short-termism.