Although franchising has become one of the most common means of operating and expanding businesses, relatively few lawyers are prepared to counsel or represent clients in franchise transactions or disputes. While traditional contract law contemplates reducing a fixed agreement to black and white, the franchise relationship (albeit documented by a contract) is necessarily organic and amorphous. The franchisor must be able to grow and adapt its business over time and thereby cause its franchisees to adapt.

This book is primarily a compilation of short stories found in entertaining and severely edited cases, most of which include as their protagonists a franchisor or a franchisee. Schneider and Nye have chosen cases not primarily for their precedential value, but rather for their effective explanations of the law, the policy behind the law, and the stories behind the policy behind the law. This book is designed for a semester course on franchise law without any prerequisites. Nevertheless, even students with a background in trademark law, anti-trust, contracts, and civil procedure will find that the chapters on those subjects enhance, rather than review, their earlier studies.

A teacher's manual is forthcoming.