Running a franchise is substantially different from running a standalone business. There are unique laws in play and specific agreements that must be adhered to. The relationship between franchisee and franchisor is unlike anything else in the realm of business.
Whether opening a franchise or addressing any of the legal issues that arise during the life of a franchise, franchisees can benefit from the representation of an attorney experienced in this unique area of commercial law. At Heekin Law, in Jacksonville, we assist franchisees throughout Florida. Knowing the nuances of this area of the law, we can help you understand your rights and obligations while pursuing a positive resolution to any challenge.
As a commercial and business law attorney law firm, we know that great ideas and efficient marketing strategies may make a business stand out, but what really allows a business to rise above its competition and thrive is the effective handling of its day-to-day business law issues it may face. From entity selection, contract formation to dispute resolution for all parties concerned, having an available and proven, cost-effective legal resource is essential in today’s business environment.
Our lawyers assist franchisees in opening restaurant franchises, hotel franchises, retail store franchises and all other types of franchises.
One of the most critical elements of opening a franchise is the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). The success of your franchise depends on your understanding of and compliance with this document, which may be up to 200 pages long. The franchise development director may explain the document to you, but it is in your best interest to have the document reviewed by an independent party. With over 250 years or combined experience, we are well-versed in reading and interpreting these documents, and distilling the information that is most important to you. Despite what you are told by the director, some of the terms in the document may be negotiable. We can assist with identifying any potentially troublesome issues and negotiate changes on your behalf.
Furthermore, we can help you choose the most appropriate business entity and handle all other aspects of business formation. We are available to address all issues that may come up during the life of your franchise, including drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts of all kinds, and handling every type of business transaction.
Disputes can arise at any time during the life of a franchise. Do you believe the franchisor is not fulfilling its obligations as outlined in the FDD? Were you mislead about what the franchisor would provide to help your franchise succeed? Have you been threatened with termination of your franchise agreement, or has the franchisor not renewed the franchise agreement?
When handling franchise disputes, we will take the time to identify your goals. Do you want your franchise to continue? Would you like to close the doors as carefully as possible? Do you simply want the support you were promised? Whatever the case may be, we will create a legal strategy and pursue negotiation or trial as appropriate to obtain a positive outcome.
Franchisees: Our experienced attorneys understand the nuances of franchise law and can protect your rights and interests in any business law matter. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to