A Primer on California's Franchise Laws: The Toughest in the Nation

California, the nation's most populous state, has long been the launch pad for numerous franchise chains including the first McDonald's restaurant. Home of the nation's first franchise law, California's franchise laws have been a legislative model for the federal franchise sales law and other state franchise laws that followed and are among the toughest in the country.  Jurisdictions outside of California look to California's enforcement policies and judicial decisions to guide their own decisions. Consequently, knowledge about California's franchise laws and their enforcement and interpretation is both essential and relevant to attorneys who practice franchise law in California and beyond.

This course, presented by Rochelle Spandorf, of Davis Wright Tremaine's Los Angeles office, chair of the firm's National Franchise Practice Group, provides an overview of franchising in California. It explains the types of commercial arrangements that California regulates as franchises, reviews California's franchise sales law and "relationship law," highlights key California enforcement and judicial decisions involving franchise businesses, and explains the interplay of federal franchise law and other state franchise laws with California's franchise laws.