Franchising Law: Updates, Disputes & Compliance
An unmissable opportunity to hear from matter experts as they roll up the latest developments in franchising law over the past year, including the Treasury’s 2023 review of the Code of Conduct. Whether you represent the franchisors or the franchisees, this seminar will uncover the best practice for navigating risks, dealing with unfair contract terms, and overcoming legal and regulatory issues affecting the business operations in the franchising system. WEB243N51Z
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD units including:
3 units in Substantive Law
1 unit in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: Derek Minus, Barrister, Mediator and Arbitrator, Mediation & Arbitration Chambers
9.00am to 10.00am Transactional and Regulatory Blind Spots: Identifying Risk Issues of Franchising
- Potential disputes arising from grey areas of interpretation and application of the Code
- Lessons from the latest case studies
- What's next: Anticipatory outcomes from review of the Code
Presented by Sean O’Donnell, Partner, HWL Ebsworth
10.00am to 11.00am In Conversation: Practical Strategies for Tackling Unfair Contract Terms in Franchise Agreements
A robust conversation about the impact of recent changes to the unfair contract regime upon franchising law, together with strategies to manoeuvre in a somewhat ambiguous arena devoid of substantive legislative or judicial direction, but with enormous consequences.
- Practical understanding of unfair contract terms within franchising agreements
- Real-life case studies and practical examples illustrating common pitfalls
- Actionable strategies for identifying, negotiating, and addressing unfair terms
Presented by Simone Pentis, Managing Director, Advantage Partners Lawyers and Elizabeth Gore-Jones, Principal, The Franchise and Business Lawyers
11.00am to 11.15am Break
Professional Skills
11.15am to 12.15pm Advancing the Economy through ADR in Franchise Disputes: Expectations for Legal Representatives
- What are the real, human issues in a franchising dispute?
- Rising beyond the adversarial nature of disputes to achieve resolution
- Considerations for when it seems impossible to settle
Presented by Dr Katherine Johnson, Mediator and Barrister
12.15pm to 1.15pm ACCC's Regulatory Initiatives and Enforcement Focus
- Key highlights of enforcement actions and outcomes
- Emphasis on compliance and crackdown priorities
Presented by Mathew Webster, Special Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright
Presenters
Derek Minus
Derek Minus is a barrister-at-law with a specialist practice as a dispute resolver. He holds accreditation as variously a Mediator, Arbitrator, Expert Determiner and Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (FDRP). He was an early adopter of mediation in 1992 and is a Nationally Accredited Mediator who has conducted over 4,000 mediations and conciliations across all types of disputes. Derek is also graded a Chartered Arbitrator by The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK). Since 2000, he has acted as an arbitrator with variously; the NSW Local Court, District Court, NCAT, Workers Compensation Commission and for the NSW State Government. For the two-year period 2017/2018, he was appointed by the Commonwealth Government as the Franchising Code Mediation Adviser with responsibility for arranging the dispute resolution processes under the Franchising Code of Conduct, a prescribed code under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. His submissions for improving the operation of the dispute resolution processes in the Franchising Code were adopted by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services for its publication Fairness in Franchising. He is currently providing an automated process for engaging mediators throughout Australia for the resolution of franchising disputes at: www.franchisingcode.au.
Sean O’Donnell
Sean is one of Australia's leading franchise and dispute lawyers. He is recognised by his international and local peers as a 'Thought Leader' in franchising, an accolade initially only applying to 4 other lawyers in Australia. He heads up the firm’s national retail and franchising practice. He has 20 years of experience assisting clients involved in the retail and franchise sectors, particularly assisting with strategic change of a network and resolving complex disputes in a broad range of industries. His practice in franchising covers both non contentious advice work to litigated disputes. This unique combination was validated in the publication of Who's Who Legal 2017 where his clients commended him on his "incredible market understanding", "commercial and practical advice" and "his superb litigation abilities". Sean is also listed in Best Lawyers for his franchise expertise. Sean was the President of the NSW/ACT Chapter of the FCA and a director of the FCA National board from 2012 to October 2017. He remains active within the FCA and has been part of the FCA legal committee since 2006. He had a significant role in the drafting and implementation of the new Franchising Code in 2015, including submissions to government about redrafting of the Code. He also made submissions and assisted a number of clients with submissions to the current Government Inquiry. Sean regularly assists franchisor and retail clients with regulatory investigations by the ACCC and ASIC. He is also involved in a number of high-profile disputes and litigated claims throughout Australia. He is a trained mediator and has participated in numerous OFMA mediations and commercial mediations. He also provides expert opinion on franchise related matters.
Simone Pentis
Managing Director of Advantage Partners Lawyers, Simone brings a background of extensive experience as a corporate and commercial lawyer having worked in private legal practice, universities and in-house positions at Australian and international companies. Simone has acted for various national and international franchisors within Australia, assisted franchise groups move into various international markets, and acquire other international and Australian systems. Simone has also assisted master franchisees and franchisees as they acquire and deal with their franchises. Simone managed and operated the legal departments for national and international franchise networks, including The Coffee Club Group and Bartercard, and is Deputy Chair of the QLD Law Society’s Franchising Committee, as well as a long standing committee member of both the Franchise Council of Australia (Qld Chapter) and Franchise Council of Australia Legal Committee.
Elizabeth Gore-Jones
Elizabeth Gore-Jones was admitted in 1994 and commenced specialising in franchising law in 2000. She started the law firm "The Franchise & Business Lawyers" in 2012 specialising in providing commercial, business and franchising advice to franchisors and franchisees alike. She is a member of the Queensland Law Society Franchising Committee and is a past member of the Franchise Council of Australia, the Queensland chapter of the Franchise Council committee and the Women in Franchising committee. Elizabeth lectures at the Bond University PLT course in franchise legal practice. Elizabeth has a particular interest in setting up new franchise systems and assisting franchisees in dispute to reach an agreement without resorting to the court system. Elizabeth advises Franchisors ranging from large Australia wide franchisors through to the smaller franchise systems. As franchising law becomes more complex, Elizabeth is called upon to assist legal practices in representing their clients.
Dr Katherine Johnson
Katherine is an internationally and nationally accredited mediator, serving on various mediation panels including the International Mediation Institute (IMI), Papua New Guinea Supreme Court (PNG), the Supreme Court of NSW, the Personal Injury Commission of NSW and the Family Law Settlement Service Panel (FLSS) of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia as a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (FDRP). For over twenty-five years, Katherine has been and still is, a practising registered research psychologist and barrister and a nationally accredited mediator. She has combined her skills to form Unilegal Consulting Pty. Ltd through which she still practises as a mediator and as a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) for the Department of Communities and Justice in NSW. Katherine also teaches mediation courses and trains mediators internationally and nationally. Katherine’s extensive practice in Psychology, Law and Education has led her to find common ground between the fields culminating in her PhD in Law from Macquarie University in 2015 which was published in 2018. She has combined the insights from the field of Loss and grief in Psychology to the practical resolution of disputes in Law. In her thesis, she has developed an interdisciplinary approach, which transforms Dispute Resolution into an agent for social change. Her use of mediation as a process of social constructionism in action empowers parties to constructively respond to their own crises/losses as agents for their own social change. Katherine has been called a ‘pracademic’ because of her attempts not only to constructively implement in her practice what theory teaches us academically, but also to learn from practice what can be generalised as a grounded researcher to become academic knowledge.
Mathew Webster
Mathew Webster is a corporate and commercial lawyer based in Sydney. Mathew has a broad range of corporate and commercial experience having worked in the areas of franchising, trade practices and commercial law.