In the Know

In the Know is a quarterly publication written by our lawyers on current franchising news and recent legal developments.

View pdfs: Summer 2012, Winter 2012, Fall 2011, Winter 2011, Summer 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2009, Winter 2009, Fall 2008

Recent Blog Posts

Financial statements and the disclosure document

Lou Alexopoulos

Published September 21, 2008

Prospective franchisees base their decision to enter into a franchise relationship on many factors, one of the most important being their perception of the franchisor’s financial health.

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An Estate Plan – Do you have yours?

Rachel Loizos

Published September 21, 2008

Crafting an estate plan is the best way to minimize the amount of taxes payable on death and an effective estate plan begins with a well drafted will. Every adult should have a will; if you die without a valid will, you will have died “intestate.”

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Disclosure Document Refresher – What is this document anyways?

John Yiokaris

Published September 21, 2008

For franchisors selling franchises in Ontario and Alberta, the law requires that they must provide all prospective franchisees in those provinces with their disclosure document.

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The News on Class Action Waivers

Allan D.J. Dick

Published September 21, 2008

Class Actions are often perceived by corporations as one of the biggest threats to their operations. They are costly, time consuming and can draw substantial media and public attention to unproven claims for huge sums of money.

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Disclosure in the Sale of Franchises: A One-time Affair

David Sterns

Published September 21, 2008

When it came to elections, Maurice Duplessis, the autocratic former premier of Quebec, was fond of telling his supporters to “vote early and vote often”. When it comes to selling franchises in Ontario, franchisors would be better advised to “disclose fully and disclose once”.

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Debtors become even more optimistic – New bankruptcy law changes

Sam Oliver Hall

Published September 21, 2008

One of the pervasive myths of start-up entrepreneurship is that the successful entrepreneur typically uses unsecured thirdparty financing to get a new venture off the ground, so as to limit personal financial exposure should the business go belly up.

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Common Pitfalls of Start-up Franchising and How to Avoid Them

John Sotos

Published September 21, 2008

Start-up franchising ought not be a shot in the dark. After all, one of the biggest selling propositions of franchising over starting up an independent business is that with franchising, the franchisor has invested the time, money and sweat equity to work out all of the major impediments to operating a unit of the business so that the franchise concept may then be used by a prospective business operator or franchisee.

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