2025’s Top Franchise Legal Players: Leslie Curran - Plave Koch PLC

Legal Player: Leslie Curran
Firm: Plave Koch PLC

Leslie Curran is a partner at Plave Koch PLC and a veteran franchise attorney whose path into the field began by chance and became a 25-year career. She built her practice alongside a franchise group in Washington, D.C., and today is known for practical, system-minded counsel to franchisors. At Plave Koch, she works within a team of 10 franchise partners that focuses exclusively on franchisor work, emphasizes efficient project management and uses transparent, flexible billing.

Curran stands out for how closely she integrates with clients’ business teams and for her long service to the profession. She has been deeply involved with the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, including a term on its Governing Committee, and she brings a wide network across the franchise bar to every engagement. The result is a lawyer who pairs technical depth with a collaborative style, positioning brands to scale while staying true to their standards.

1851 Franchise reached out to Curran to learn how franchisors can protect their brand and avoid legal mistakes. Check out her insights below.

1851 Franchise: How did you fall into franchising?

Leslie Curran: Well, I really did find my way to franchise law practice by accident. It definitely was not the practice area that I wanted to do as a brand-new lawyer. When I started working at a firm in D.C. more than 25 years ago, my office was with the franchise practice. Originally, I was drawn to the franchise practice because I really liked the attorneys who worked with that group. In addition to being serious, smart and talented lawyers who represented brands I recognized, they were funny, friendly, supportive and engaging. They genuinely liked the work they were doing. Many years later, and a firm move, I am still working with some of those amazing attorneys who have become incredible friends and colleagues. And, well, I too love the franchise legal work and the franchisor clients I work with every day.

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

Curran: It’s not just about having manuals and processes, but that’s certainly a good place to start. Protecting the brand begins with taking the time to create, write down, review and update brand standards. A key step is communication of the brand standards to franchisees and engaging in discussions with franchisees about logistics of the “on ground implementation” or “how things work in real life” questions franchisees deal with. At the unit level, it’s more than the franchisor simply inspecting or checking up on franchisees; it’s about helping and engaging with franchisees to explain the standards, the implementation, the best practices. Also, as with many things in franchise systems, communication and transparency can go a long way toward building a culture of compliance with the entire system.

1851: How important is the information in Item 19?

Curran: Franchisors are finding it more difficult to sell franchises for various reasons, including an uncertain economy and increased competition. Every year, we see the addition of a significant number of new franchised brands come online. The real numbers behind that have been tracked and reported by FRANdata. It’s really astounding if you look at the numbers. But as new brands come on board, there aren’t more prospective franchisees who want to buy franchises. So franchisors are facing that limited resource of prospective franchisee options, which is getting spread even more thinly. Franchisors should be sure they are doing everything that is supported by the legal and business realities to get from interest form to deal close. 

Item 19, especially for emerging, smaller and regional brands, will be key in the sales process because no one should buy into a business and risk their own money without an answer to the question “How much can I make?” And, the franchise sales team will need to answer that question to close the deal. Brands should also be aware if competitors in their market segment include Item 19; if they do, not disclosing the information likely drops the brand off the prospect’s list. Brands with a significant base of existing franchisees may have an eager and capable base of folks willing to talk about the financial results with prospects. For those brands, information in trade press and other places may be sufficient for new prospects. And, frankly, some brands just have large enough brand awareness that prospects simply assume the operating results are good. So, maybe on balance less important for those mature brands.

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

Curran: There are a few. And it’s hard to identify one.

• For emerging/new brands, selling franchises to unqualified franchisees or franchisees who are not the right fit with the system because you want to make the sale and add unit count fast.
• Selling franchises in markets that are very remote/far away geographically from base of original operations. Those franchisees are simply harder to support and the market is unlikely to have any brand awareness.
• Lack of “self awareness.” Like most of us, it’s hard to see our own flaws. Brands often cannot see what they may not be doing great. And, it’s often hard to listen when others tell you, it just sorta inflames you. So, it’s important to really listen when others speak, with your mouth closed. Don’t focus on your reply, hear what’s being said to you. It might actually be where you get your best advice.
• Setting up legal and business documents without using experienced franchise professionals.
• Brands that sell “licenses” to avoid the franchise legal framework.

1851: How does Plave Koch stand out as a franchise law firm?

Curran: Well, I am partial, but I think I have the best colleagues in the franchise bar. Best-in-class client service. Team of 10 franchise partners with significant breadth and depth of experience representing franchisors because it’s all we do. That lends itself to our ability to take on a variety of projects, manage them effectively and be extremely efficient at providing that assistance. Transparent and flexible billing. Ability to understand and react to challenges faced by our clients’ businesses; given the level of involvement with some clients, we are able to get involved directly with many business teams. That changes your perspective as an outside lawyer when clients treat you and have you interact with teams more like you are part of the in-house team.

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

Curran: Being a radio DJ might not be for you; I mean, it really wasn’t. But serious advice came early on from Dave Koch when he told me to get involved in franchise industry groups, write and read and attend meetings. Learn as much as you can, learn it from everyone around you. Based on his advice, I took steps to get involved on the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising; I spent a number of years on the Governing Committee for the Forum. As part of that group, the work we did was very rewarding and I learned so much from a legal substance standpoint. But, looking back, it was the people I met that really mattered to me. Across the franchise bar and beyond, my practice and ultimately my life has been enriched by the many, many friends I made along the way — franchisee lawyers, franchisor lawyers, in-house lawyers, supplier teams, franchise support teams, government lawyers, everyone! That really put me on the way to finding my home in the practice of law as a franchise lawyer — and it’s not just at Plave Koch — and well beyond that.

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