Chris Wormald is a partner and joint head of our Franchising & Licensing Group. He
specialises in all aspects of franchising, advising companies
considering franchising and alternative expansion options, joint
ventures and strategic alliances, ranging from major corporations
considering re-engineering and international expansion, and
government organizations, to small start-ups. He works across
commercial sectors – from hotels, retailers and restaurants to the
service industries, IT, insurance and financial services,
manufacturing, distribution and the public sector. Chris is
consistently rated in The Legal 500 and Chambers
directories along with his colleague Mark Abell in the leading rank
among franchise specialists and is recognised in the Legal
Business Guide to Legal Experts 2007 as an expert in
franchising. Who’s Who Legal, the “Official Research
partner of the International Bar Association” puts Chris and his
colleagues Mark Abell and Martin
Mendelsohn in its shortlist of “Most Highly Regarded Individuals”
globally, the only lawyers outside North America to be listed
there.
Before joining Field Fisher Waterhouse Chris worked as a
franchising partner at Eversheds for almost 12 years, succeeding
the eminent “guru” Martin Mendelsohn as its Head of Franchising six
years ago. Before that, Chris, originally an international tax and
commercial lawyer at City of London law firm Simmons & Simmons,
was a Vice President and General Counsel at McDonald’s Europe for
10 years.
Chris belongs to a number of legal and business organisations,
and writes and speaks frequently both in the UK and overseas on
legal and business aspects of business expansion. He
co-authored for specialist UK publishers The Guide to
Franchising in UK Pubs and Restaurants and is a member of the
Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of
Franchising Law. He is a member of the Legal Committee
of the British Franchise Association, and is a member of the IBA
Franchise Committee, the ABA Franchise Section, and is on the Board
of the lobbying organisation Business In Sport & Leisure
Limited. Chris has lived and worked in Brussels and Frankfurt
and speaks French and German.