Are industry associations in the franchising industry really serving the American People and the investing consumer As a former board of director of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers, I became somewhat concerned that the industry association was filled with lawyers looking for franchisees to represent to sue franchisors.
When a franchisor is sued it hurts the entire franchise system, because any money received from extortion like lawsuits is less money take away from the money that the franchisor needs to support the franchise system. If the AAFD American Association of franchises and Distributors continually uses lawyers to serve their will, this does a disservice to the franchising industry.
Franchising is a lot like a marriage, and when lawyers get involved in marriages or divorce cases, what happens No one wins, well expect the lawyers. Is the franchising industry become another industry for the lawyers, with lawsuits, increased over regulation and adversarial relationships I believe so.
Not long ago, the AAFD started giving out awards for the resumes of their lawyer members. Michael Webster, an attorney out of Toronto, focusing on franchise and distributorship law was the AAFD’s supporting member of the year, but is not even an American, he is a another litigating attorney helping franchisees sue their franchisors for a fee. How does this help franchising
If the AAFD is an industry association out to help the franchising industry, they sure have a bizarre way of showing it. Franchising is not about lawyers, it’s about franchisees and franchisors winning in the market place. Think on this.
Tags: board of director, disservice, distributorship, divorce cases, franchise system, franchisees, franchisor, industry associations, lawyer members, michael webster