Hot Topics in Franchise Registration

Josh Piper is a nationally recognized business franchise and distribution attorney with more than 14 years of experience representing franchisors, manufacturers, licensors, and distributors in their expansion and strategic development. He counsels franchisors in every stage of their development, including the decision to franchise, preparation and registration of franchise documents, management of franchise relationships, franchise growth strategies, negotiation of supplier and joint venture agreements, and termination of franchise relationships. He also represents private equity companies and existing franchisors in buying and selling franchise companies.

Josh counsels clients on franchise sales compliance duties and advises franchise and non-franchise distribution systems on a broad array of operating issues—ranging from contract enforcement, trademark protection, relationship disputes, antitrust and pricing matters, to terminations and transfers, mergers and acquisitions, and implementation of system-wide changes.

Stuti Murarka is a transactional business attorney at Cheng Cohen LLC. She focuses her practice on franchise and licensing law, commercial contracts and transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and organizational matters.

Prior to joining Cheng Cohen, Stuti worked at another law firm in Chicago and two large law firms in Mumbai, India where her practice focused on immigration laws, SEC regulations, cross border business transactions, and commercial dispute resolution.

Sarah is the Director of Global Franchising at Yum! Brands, Inc. Her practice comprises a broad spectrum of legal issues pertaining to franchising, including policy, governance, business transactions, franchisee restructurings, litigation, and other complex franchising matters. Prior to her current role, Ms. Crow served as Legal Director at Pizza Hut, LLC. Previously Ms. Crow was counsel at Akin Grump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in the Financial Restructuring Group.