For attorney Matt Wizmur, there’s one thing that drives his decisions when serving his clients to go above and beyond: serving small business clients with transparency, openness and responsiveness.
Wizmur’s experience in business, his MBA and his time at Spadea Lignana, a law firm for the franchising industry and from the franchising industry, make him an ideal lawyer to assist with franchise resales and private equity investment in franchise systems.
Wizmur went into business to stand up for small businesses, and he quickly found himself among friends at Spadea Lignana, which was founded with a mission to provide better solutions for the franchising industry.
“I got my JD MBA from Rutgers and always imagined myself working with small business owners,” said Wizmur. “At Spadea Lignana, a lot of my work is with small business franchisees in resales for franchise locations. If they’re buying or selling a franchise business, I help with the process from the time they get offer terms down through closing.”
With six years of experience at Spadea Lignana, Wizmur has seen it all. He readily jumps in to help with drafting purchase documents and agreements, reviewing leases and franchise agreements and even helping entrepreneurs get loans.
“It helps not just to have a law degree, but also an MBA to help navigate the ins and outs of SBA loans,” said Wizmur.
Wizmur’s business background, in addition to his legal expertise, highlights what exactly makes Spadea Lignana different from other franchise law firms.
If you ask Wizmur what makes Spadea Lignana stand apart from other franchise law firms, it all comes down to relationships. Wizmur builds relationships with clients and has relationships in the office that facilitate fast, unstressed communication most law firms can’t match.
“I’ve worked at other law firms where things were very bureaucratic and things needed to go through all these unnecessary channels,” said Wizmur. “At Spadea Lignana, our clients have access to lawyers who have done franchise law for years, but they’re also able to directly connect with people in different departments who can answer any question, any time. For example, I don't specifically do trademark law, but we have attorneys who do, and they’re directly available to me. I always answer my clients very quickly, and if I can’t answer them, I’ll get an answer in no time. In my opinion, that’s the biggest value the firm provides.”
Tom Spadea and Josh Lignana, the firm’s founders, know what it’s like to be a business owner waiting for answers from a lawyer and vowed to create something different with the firm they founded. This ethos reflects in Wizmur’s obsessive attention to clients.
“Obviously, any attorney can do the work, and some of them do a great job,” said Wizmur. “But where I set myself apart is in my responsiveness to the clients. Among lawyers, I find some take weeks to get back to you. People want a lawyer to do a great job, but they also want responsiveness. That’s why it’s a huge thing to get back to my clients ASAP. I kind of have an unhealthy relationship with my email; it doesn’t get over 10 unread messages. If you’re my client, you can be sure I’m on call.”
Wizmur’s deep pool of experience goes beyond franchise resales and forming client bonds. In fact, he’s somewhat of an expert on helping franchisors get acquired and has worked on dozens of these transactions, from helping in the due diligence to drafting the deal documents
“Most private equity firms are looking to buy an entire franchise system, not the individual stores,” said Wizmur. “What they really want is the rights to the intellectual property, the trademarks and the right to collect royalties.”
So what does a private equity firm look for when shopping around for a franchise system? Again, it comes down to relationships in the business — something Wizmur deeply understands.
“Private equity wants to make sure there’s good relationships between the franchisees and the franchisor. From a private equity standpoint, they’re most concerned with those relationships and knowing they’re not stepping into a crazy situation with a franchisee in default or not following protocol. I have seen enough transactions in franchising to have a sense of the system and whether or not there are deeper issues that go beyond the documents,” Wizmur said.
For more information on Spadea Lignana, please visit https://www.spadealaw.com/.
Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys
SPONSORED
The attorneys at Spadea Lignana don’t just take a call to drive up an invoice — they use their business acumen to help franchises succeed. Matt Wizmur, MBA, is no exception.
For attorney Matt Wizmur, there’s one thing that drives his decisions when serving his clients to go above and beyond: serving small business clients with transparency, openness and responsiveness.
Wizmur’s experience in business, his MBA and his time at Spadea Lignana, a law firm for the franchising industry and from the franchising industry, make him an ideal lawyer to assist with franchise resales and private equity investment in franchise systems.
Wizmur went into business to stand up for small businesses, and he quickly found himself among friends at Spadea Lignana, which was founded with a mission to provide better solutions for the franchising industry.
“I got my JD MBA from Rutgers and always imagined myself working with small business owners,” said Wizmur. “At Spadea Lignana, a lot of my work is with small business franchisees in resales for franchise locations. If they’re buying or selling a franchise business, I help with the process from the time they get offer terms down through closing.”
With six years of experience at Spadea Lignana, Wizmur has seen it all. He readily jumps in to help with drafting purchase documents and agreements, reviewing leases and franchise agreements and even helping entrepreneurs get loans.
“It helps not just to have a law degree, but also an MBA to help navigate the ins and outs of SBA loans,” said Wizmur.
Wizmur’s business background, in addition to his legal expertise, highlights what exactly makes Spadea Lignana different from other franchise law firms.
If you ask Wizmur what makes Spadea Lignana stand apart from other franchise law firms, it all comes down to relationships. Wizmur builds relationships with clients and has relationships in the office that facilitate fast, unstressed communication most law firms can’t match.
“I’ve worked at other law firms where things were very bureaucratic and things needed to go through all these unnecessary channels,” said Wizmur. “At Spadea Lignana, our clients have access to lawyers who have done franchise law for years, but they’re also able to directly connect with people in different departments who can answer any question, any time. For example, I don't specifically do trademark law, but we have attorneys who do, and they’re directly available to me. I always answer my clients very quickly, and if I can’t answer them, I’ll get an answer in no time. In my opinion, that’s the biggest value the firm provides.”
Tom Spadea and Josh Lignana, the firm’s founders, know what it’s like to be a business owner waiting for answers from a lawyer and vowed to create something different with the firm they founded. This ethos reflects in Wizmur’s obsessive attention to clients.
“Obviously, any attorney can do the work, and some of them do a great job,” said Wizmur. “But where I set myself apart is in my responsiveness to the clients. Among lawyers, I find some take weeks to get back to you. People want a lawyer to do a great job, but they also want responsiveness. That’s why it’s a huge thing to get back to my clients ASAP. I kind of have an unhealthy relationship with my email; it doesn’t get over 10 unread messages. If you’re my client, you can be sure I’m on call.”
Wizmur’s deep pool of experience goes beyond franchise resales and forming client bonds. In fact, he’s somewhat of an expert on helping franchisors get acquired and has worked on dozens of these transactions, from helping in the due diligence to drafting the deal documents
“Most private equity firms are looking to buy an entire franchise system, not the individual stores,” said Wizmur. “What they really want is the rights to the intellectual property, the trademarks and the right to collect royalties.”
So what does a private equity firm look for when shopping around for a franchise system? Again, it comes down to relationships in the business — something Wizmur deeply understands.
“Private equity wants to make sure there’s good relationships between the franchisees and the franchisor. From a private equity standpoint, they’re most concerned with those relationships and knowing they’re not stepping into a crazy situation with a franchisee in default or not following protocol. I have seen enough transactions in franchising to have a sense of the system and whether or not there are deeper issues that go beyond the documents,” Wizmur said.
For more information on Spadea Lignana, please visit https://www.spadealaw.com/.
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