Foreword

• Author: Steven M. Goldman, H. Bret Lowell.

Foreword

The Mission Statement for the ABA Forum on Franchising is to be the preemi-

nent forum for the study and discussion of the legal aspects of franchising. A pri-

mary goal we adopted to accomplish this objective is to provide high-quality

educational programs and publications on the legal aspects of franchising. The

Franchise Law Compliance Manual represents a giant step toward accomplishing

this goal by combining the talents of skilled in-house counsel, as well as experi-

enced outside counsel, to provide a user friendly and practical guide that will

enable franchise companies to focus on a broad range of corporate functions

related to franchising.

The Franchise Law Compliance Manual provides a ready resource to corpo-

rate counsel and their business clients with respect to the organization and

implementation of standardized administrative systems and procedures for their

franchise business. The initial idea for a compliance manual began with our late

Governing Committee member, Kathleen Callahan Anderson, to whom this book

is dedicated, who discussed her ideas with Steve Goldman. With the further help

of Jeff Brimer and the members of the Corporate Counsel Division Steering Com-

mittee, Steve then designed the topics and structure for the manual, and the con-

cept was initially tested at our 20th Annual Forum in Colorado Springs, which I

had the privilege of chairing. All of the participants at a mini-program presented

by the Corporate Counsel Division were encouraged to review written materials

prepared on six topics ranging from establishment and protection of intellectual

property rights to termination of the franchise relationship. Through roundtable

discussions, the authors were able to solicit input from participants on new

ideas, suggestions for change, and other recommendations to enhance the final

product. During the next 18 months, comments from program participants were

assimilated and incorporated by 13 authors into the final chapters which are pro-

duced in this book.

Our co-editors, Steven Goldman and Bret Lowell, brought together their vast

substantive skills and editorial talents to pull together the various segments of

the project into a comprehensive, enjoyable, and easy-to-understand volume.

Throughout the process of developing this publication, there was always the

desire to present a well-rounded viewpoint and to join an in-house counsel with

a law firm practitioner for each chapter, thus assuring that practical business

thoughts, as opposed to strictly legal positions, would be reflected in the final

product. I was very excited about this project from its inception and was fortu-

nate to have participated in many meetings of the Forum’s Publications Committee

as this monograph was being developed. I feel confident that you will agree with

me that it represents an extremely invaluable addition to our Forum publications

that will serve the needs of franchise practitioners and franchising companies.

xv