Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys INFO
About Spadea Lignana
Spadea Lignana is an elite franchise law firm with decades of experience serving hundreds of franchisor clients nationwide. The firm’s attorneys focus on real world solutions and always consider the return on investment for every legal dollar spent by clients. The firm takes a long-term approach with their legal advice trying to help clients build a franchise system that will create generational wealth for their owners. Most of the attorneys have worked directly in franchising as executives of national brands and some as franchisees themselves. That unique perspective enables the firm to give grounded, practical and relevant advice to their clients.
Tom Spadea, one of the firm’s founding partners, has a long and diverse history in the franchising industry. After a partnership in a non-franchised manufacturing and technology business that ultimately closed, Spadea found himself drawn to the franchising world as a franchise broker in the early 2000s. He then joined Rita’s Italian Ice, first as a salesperson and then as head of franchise sales and real estate.
While at Rita’s, Spadea decided to pursue what had been a long-term personal goal of becoming an attorney and enrolled part time in the night program at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law while selling franchises during the day. His best friend from high school, Josh Lignana, independently decided to enroll in law school at Rutgers University during the same time after looking for a career change as well. The two of them began to contemplate starting a franchise law firm together after they graduated. The idea of Spadea Lignana was born and soon after they both started practicing law they opened their first office together in Philadelphia on January 1, 2012.
After a few years, they slowly started to build a team of attorneys with deep franchise and business experience. Today, Spadea Lignana has over two dozen team members in Philadelphia and New York all with a focus on franchising.
Spadea Lignana: Experienced Franchise Attorneys
Services and Areas of Practice
For franchisors or potential franchisors, Spadea Lignana offers several legal services and areas of practice. This includes help with franchising the business, compliance systems, trademarks, international franchising and more. The firm is also qualified to help with franchise disputes and litigation, bankruptcy and restructuring, as well as terminations of franchise agreements.
Spadea Lignana starts by asking why the franchisor started franchising and what their long-term goal is. The firm thinks long-term, builds the foundation and ensures that business owners are ready for the complete lifecycle of their franchise journey, including launching, the early years, adolescence, maturity and the exit.
For established or potential franchisees, Spadea Lignana can offer FDD and franchise agreement reviews, retail commercial lease negotiations, help with forming a new entity for the business and assistance in buying or selling an existing franchise.
FDD Compliance System for Franchisors
The Spadea Lignana Difference
Before becoming attorneys, Tom Spadea and Josh Lignana were both business consumers of legal services. They always had a feeling they could do it better. They observed a lot of unnecessary friction in the attorney-client relationship, and founded Spadea Lignana with the goal of making the process as streamlined as possible.
Unlike other franchise law firms, Spadea Lignana takes a balanced approach and won’t shy away from representing franchisees. By knowing both sides, Spadea Lignana is better able to help clients navigate difficult issues. The firm has a deep understanding of the relationship dynamics that underpin all franchise systems. Many of their partners have held senior leadership positions for national franchise brands and some were franchisees themselves. That experience has proven invaluable in advocating on behalf of clients and keeping their long-term interest in the forefront of their advice. In addition, Spadea Lignana differentiates itself by offering unlimited strategic advice and personalized attention to each client. The firm is extremely proud of its long-term client relationships.
CORE Program for Franchisors
Spadea Lignana’s CORE program for franchisors is a cost-effective and practical solution for the ongoing legal needs of franchisors, including, but not limited to, FDD updates, state registrations and franchise agreement executions. Through its proprietary cloud-based system Spadea Lignana can effectively and efficiently manage FDDs and franchise agreement executions for a flat monthly fee.
The firm’s unique flat monthly fee subscription model also ensures that clients don’t have to worry about being billed for small talk and don’t have to rush through calls. By taking away the hourly fee, Spadea Lignana is able to align interests and become an efficient, long-term partner in each client’s success.
Spadea Lignana's Flat Fee Franchisor Legal Services
Milestones
In 2017, the firm launched an innovative, cloud-based proprietary map system after Spadea saw an election night graphic in which all of the states were the same size and divided into two simple categories: red or blue. A lightbulb went off in his head — that would be a great way for franchisors to show where they could sell and where they couldn’t. If the states were either red or green in terms of up to date state registrations, it would be much more efficient, simple and would be one single version of the truth. The web-based platform is managed internally and not only gives up to date state registration information, but also allows the candidate to download and sign for the FDD through the platform specific to the state in question. Spadea Lignana has an experienced franchise attorney responsible for managing the back end portal to determine which state is red or green and which document will be delivered to the candidate, allowing the firm to become the compliance team for franchisors without slowing down the process.
In 2019, the firm teamed up with friend and industry veteran Harold Kestenbaum through the acquisition of his legendary practice. In an exciting move for everyone, Spadea Lignana doubled the size of the firm and now represents over 250 franchisors.
Ideal Clients
Spadea Lignana’s ideal client is any franchisor with under 100 units and looking to grow. Since emerging concepts tend to be underserved or overserved by their law firms, Spadea Lignana’s ideal clients are those franchisors looking for a happy medium between the extremes. Spadea Lignana fills that niche by giving solid legal advice that takes into account the unique circumstances of each and every client, what their goals are and what a reasonable budget is for an emerging brand.
For more information, visit: https://www.spadealaw.com/