Growing a Franchise
Partnering with an experienced franchise attorney is one of the most important early steps in building a strong, compliant foundation for your franchise system.
Franchising a business demands a solid legal framework that protects your brand, supports growth and ensures compliance across all markets. One of the most important first hires a founder can make is a franchise-specific attorney.
1851 Franchise spoke to Charles Internicola, founding partner of The Internicola Law Firm, for insight on the legal steps involved in franchising and how the right legal partner can shape the success of a franchise system from day one.
When working with clients, Internicola notes that the process begins with an initial franchise assessment. “We evaluate their growth goals, business model, KPIs and overall industry trends to help them understand what a winning franchise growth strategy should look like and whether or not franchising is a good fit for them,” he said.
Next, they go through interactive brand discovery sessions during which a team of franchise lawyers and growth advisors work with the clients to baseline core components of their business. According to Internicola, these components include “operations, supply chain, territories, financial performance, trademarks, corporate structure and their overall education and understanding of what it means to become a franchisor.”
Once the foundation is established, the process moves into the development phase. This includes creating the legal infrastructure, such as the Franchise Disclosure Document, franchise agreements and compliance systems necessary for a new franchise system to operate legally and effectively. At the same time, the franchise company itself is formally established.
Trademark registration and protection is another critical step, ensuring the brand identity is secured before going to market. From there, clients receive guidance on assembling a reliable support network, including suppliers and vendors. Internicola’s team also supports the development of essential tools like the operations manual, franchise website and marketing strategy.
The FDD is one of the most crucial documents when it comes to franchising a business. Having a great legal team is especially important in this process as the FDD must not only comply with federal and state regulations but also communicate the brand’s opportunity, obligations and expectations to prospective franchisees.
“We apply a multi-team member approach that includes our franchise lawyers, development directors and franchise growth advisors,” Internicola said. “Our process is milestone driven and interactive where our team leads the way on FDD development and our clients rely on our experiences in representing and working with over 300 franchisors.”
The firm includes an education process within its services, and as it develops the FDD and franchise offering with clients, it helps them understand what comes next and what a successful five-year franchise growth strategy could and should look like.
When launching a franchise, failing to build a strong legal foundation can have lasting consequences, and it often starts with mistakes in the FDD.
“Common legal mistakes include FDDs that don't reflect the underpinnings of the franchise being offered,” Internicola said. “These mistakes create legal exposure and severely impact and impede franchise sales.”
According to Internicola, issues often arise when FDDs are created using a one-size-fits-all approach — for instance, treating mobile service businesses the same as fixed-location retail concepts. Other missteps include poorly structured territory models, vague or inaccurate financial performance representations and a general lack of a solid, legally sound compliance framework. These oversights can significantly weaken the foundation of a new franchise system and create long-term risks.
As a franchise grows, protecting its brand and intellectual property becomes essential to maintaining consistency, legal compliance and long-term value.
“Prior to our very first discovery session with our clients, our trademark team conducts an overall assessment and review of our client trademarks,” Internicola said. “This review includes an analysis of the USPTO database, an assessment of our client's current trademark protection and an action list of steps, including trademark registrations, that our team recommends and is ready to implement.”
Working with a general business attorney can often lead to costly missteps. That is why partnering with a franchise-specific legal team helps ensure you're building your system on the right foundation from the start.
“On a daily basis, our team exclusively works with franchisors,” Internicola said. “This includes entrepreneurs and business owners franchising their business and existing franchisors, as we assist them in navigating so many facets and stages of their growth cycle.”
By working with a dedicated franchise law team, franchisors are leveraging their know-how and critical lessons learned. A dedicated franchise team can help you better understand and plan for what it takes to succeed as a franchisor.
Check out 1851 Franchise’s full list of the Top Franchise Legal Players of 2025.
Growing and selling franchises is difficult. No great franchise did it alone. Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisors grow their franchises with confidence? Visit www.1851growthclub.com and see what we can do for you.
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