UK’s Top Franchising Lawyers Join Forces at Field Fisher Waterhouse
06 May 2008
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP announces today
the joining together of Europe’s top two franchising teams. The three leading
franchise specialists from Eversheds will join the London office of
Field Fisher Waterhouse to create the biggest and most highly rated
franchise law capability in Europe.
The merged practice will be led by Field
Fisher Waterhouse partner Mark Abell and
former Eversheds partner and Head of Franchising Chris
Wormald. They believe that the combined practice is likely to
undertake the vast majority of the highest level franchising work
in the UK and a significant share of international franchising work
into and out of Europe, acting for a host of major domestic and
international brands.
Chris Wormald has 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.
Prior to that Chris, originally an international tax and commercial
lawyer at Simmons & Simmons, was a Vice President and General
Counsel at McDonald’s Europe for 10 years.
Dr Mendelsohn will also join Field Fisher
Waterhouse as Chair – Franchising, along with Senior Associate
Shelley Nadler. This merger will create a team of 24 lawyers,
seven of whom are partners based in London, specialising in
franchising and licensing work. The existing team includes leading
individuals Mark Abell, hotel and leisure specialist, partner Babette Märzheuser-Wood, partner David Bond and franchise litigation partner
Victoria Hobbs.
Mark and Chris are both listed by Chambers
Global as two of the world’s top five franchise lawyers, the
other three are located in the US. Babette is also rated
there. Who’s Who Legal, the “Official Research
partner of the International Bar Association” puts Martin, Chris
and Mark in their list of “Most Highly Regarded Individuals”
globally, the only lawyers outside North America to be listed
there. Babette is also ranked there as a leading
franchising practitioner; and the Legal Experts guide also
ranks Victoria Hobbs and Shelley
Nadler.
Martin Mendelsohn, who was the founder
Chairman of the International Franchising Committee of the
International Bar Association and also responsible for the
establishment and continuing existence of the Journal of
International Franchising Law, has over 40 years’ experience
advising clients on franchising, distribution, agency and licensing
transactions, both domestic and international. Martin established
the first niche legal practice specialising in franchising in the
UK which was the forerunner of the Eversheds practice. In addition
to practising as a solicitor, he is also Visiting Professor of
Franchise Management at Middlesex University Business School and
has 12 current publications on business and legal aspects of
franchising ranging from 1st to 7th editions, one of which has also
been published in China and Russia.
Both the Field Fisher Waterhouse and Eversheds
teams have a large number of big name, international clients in the
retail, hotel,
leisure and service sectors. Both
teams have a constant flow of big ticket deals for clients in
India, Russia, the Middle East, Japan and China, as well as across
Europe, not to mention their substantial domestic business.
Mark Abell said:
“The Eversheds team have been our competitors for many years. We
have always seen them as the only other real player in this area.
Our combined resources give us unparalleled depth and expertise
which mean that we will be able to offer even better quality, cost
effective advice to clients, whether they are big multinationals or
smaller start up businesses. ”
Chris Wormald said: “There has always been a
mutual respect between our two teams – in the legal directories
both practices have for many years shared the top ranking. Bringing
together our two practices means we are now head and shoulders
above other franchising practices with an unrivalled client base of
big brands, as well as companies whose brands may not be so
prominent but who have used franchising to successfully develop
their businesses. We are very excited at the prospect of
unlocking more franchise and variant structure for businesses for
whose expansion and re-engineering needs it may be an excellent -
though surprisingly still little understood - option.”
For further press information please
contact:
Louise Eckersley, PR Manager,
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP on 020 7861 4120
Scarlett Yianni, PR Assistant,
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP on 020 7861 4795