In franchising matters, he has acted as outside counsel for McDonald's Corporation in various litigated matters, including the constitutional challenge to the Iowa Franchise Agreement Act; encroachment and renewal claims in Chang v. McDonald's Corporation and Schubot v. McDonald's Corporation; tying and price fixing claims in Principe v. McDonald's Corporation, Kypta v. McDonald's Corporation and Levine v. McDonald's Corporation; and market definition issues in Dunafon v. Delaware McDonald's Corporation. He has counselled McDonald's Corporation on a wide range of franchise law, franchise relationship, good faith contract performance, marketing and trade regulation matters. He has also represented a wide range of other franchising and distribution clients, including Intercontinental Hotels Group (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and Staybridge Suites in particular), Sara Lee Corporation, Pella Corporation and Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. He has been involved in acquisition and transactional representation for many of these firms, including a sale and joint venture between Holiday Inns, Inc and Bass plc; the further acquisition of Holiday Inns by Bass (leading to the formation of Intercontinental Hotels Group; the acquisition of Electronic Realty Associates from Control Data Corporation; and the acquisition of real estate brokerage assets from Merrill Lynch Realty and their integration into Prudential Real Estate Affiliates.
