2026 Top Franchise Lawyers You Should Know: Ryan C. Whitfill — CM Law

Franchise Legal Player: Ryan C. Whitfill
Firm: CM Law

Ryan Whitfill has built a reputation as a trusted advisor to franchise brands navigating growth, compliance and long-term risk. With experience advising both emerging and established franchisors across the quick-service restaurant, childcare, in-home care, automotive and wellness industries, Whitfill brings a practical, business-minded approach to franchise law. His work focuses on helping brands scale responsibly while protecting both the franchisor and franchisee experience.

1851 Franchise connected with Whitfill to discuss what franchisors often overlook, where legal risk hides during expansion, and the lessons that continue to shape his advisory philosophy.

1851 Franchise: What originally drew you to franchise law, and what has kept you engaged in the space over time?

Ryan Whitfill: I was drawn into the world of franchise law in an unexpected way. I began my career as a corporate and securities lawyer in a large national law firm and was first introduced to franchise law as a young associate when my firm lost all its franchise law associates over a short period of time. Due to that unfortunate circumstance, I was given the opportunity to begin working with the most prominent franchise law partner at the firm and found that I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact that franchise law is fairly narrow in scope with clearly defined goals and structures (as opposed to general corporate practice), and I loved working with franchisors because they were energetic, creative and generally were excited about what they were doing. I quickly became an essential part of the firm’s franchise practice group and never went back to general corporate law.

1851: As franchising continues to evolve, what legal issue do you see brands most often underestimating today?

Whitfill: Like businesses in all industries, franchisors are facing new challenges related to the use of rapidly changing technology, including AI, and I expect that trend to accelerate in the coming years. Some franchisors are actively exploring how to use AI and similar technological advances to enhance their franchise operations and customer experience, while others are taking a wait-and-see approach. For the brands that are charging ahead, serious consideration needs to be given to the legal implications of using the franchisor’s proprietary data and/or customer information in AI systems. While the laws related to AI use are still developing, franchisors need to keep in mind that information fed into AI systems may be captured and used by those systems in a manner that the franchisor and its franchisees and customers did not anticipate or consent to.

1851: In your experience, where do emerging franchisors tend to get tripped up from a compliance or documentation standpoint?

Whitfill: While I’ve seen many mistakes made by emerging franchisors over the years, I would have to say that one of the most critical mistakes a franchise brand can make is to provide prospects with unauthorized financial performance information outside of FDD Item 19.

Unfortunately, some franchisors fall into this dangerous scenario, either due to not understanding the finer points of franchise disclosure law (or hiring sales agents that don’t understand the law) or through intentional stretching of the boundaries of legal disclosure in an effort to close sales. Providing unauthorized financial performance information places the entire franchise system in legal jeopardy for years to come, so I try to make sure that all of my clients understand the law in this regard and emphasize compliance within their franchise sales/marketing teams.

1851: How should franchisors be thinking about risk management as they scale into new markets or add new unit growth strategies?

Whitfill: Franchisors expanding into new markets and employing new unit growth strategies should remain cognizant of the need to maintain excellent brand standards and consistent customer experience in those new markets. Franchisors should always balance those goals against the goal of growing the franchise system as quickly as possible. Losing sight of this balance can certainly have significant risks for growing franchise systems. For example, franchisors who focus too much on growth alone risk degrading their brand if they bring on new franchisees that don’t get proper training or don’t buy into the franchisor’s system. Franchisors can also inadvertently injure their brand, despite growing the total number of franchised units, if they fail to expand and enhance their internal infrastructure, technologies and product supply chains so that all franchisees in a new state or country get the support necessary to operate successfully.

1851: What distinguishes your approach or philosophy when working with franchise clients?

Whitfill: I try to stand out by building strong relationships with my clients. Getting to know the clients and letting them get to know me leads to better communication and better outcomes. In order to advise a client well, you must understand their goals, motivations and approach to solving problems. My focus is always to make sure my clients accomplish their goals as quickly and efficiently as possible. I try to put myself in the client’s place and provide the type of responsiveness and service that I would want if I were on the other side of the relationship. In addition, our firm, CM Law, operates on a unique model that allows me to serve my clients efficiently and add value to them far beyond what I could do at a large top-heavy law firm.

1851: Looking back, what lesson from your legal career has had the greatest impact on how you advise clients today?

Whitfill: Looking back, the best lessons come from understanding and learning from situations that turned out badly for one reason or another. As a transactional attorney, I always advise my clients to make every possible effort to resolve their disputes without litigation, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. After each litigation event, I look back to try to determine which decisions and actions by my client ultimately led to the point at which litigation was inevitable. Over the years, I’ve become more adept at spotting potential litigation traps well in advance of a dispute and steering my clients toward a path that avoids problems down the road.

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