Profile: Michael G Brennan

Franchise

Biography: Franchise

Michael G Brennan is a partner at DLA Piper. For over 20 years, his practice has been concentrated on domestic and international business matters including joint ventures, foreign investment and franchise and licence transactions. His representations extend from entrepreneurial specialty businesses to publicly traded multinationals based in the US and abroad.

He advises on the commercial and regulatory aspects of the creation, expansion and re-vamping of domestic and international franchise and distribution networks and other branded businesses. His practice encompasses a broad range of commercial and corporate matters, such as joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, supply arrangements and antitrust issues. Mr Brennan is listed in the Best Lawyers in America.

Mr Brennan is former chairman of the committee on international franchising of the International Bar Association. He is a former vice chairman of the intellectual property committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. He founded and served as the initial chairman of the committee on franchising and distribution law of the International Young Lawyers' Association.

Michael Brennan has been a frequent speaker and author on domestic and international business matters. He has addressed conferences of the International Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the International Franchise Association, the National Restaurant Association and other trade and bar groups. He is a co-author of the Unidroit Model Franchise Disclosure Law.

Mr Brennan graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1974 after having studied at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers, France. He also attended the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland as a Rotary Foundation Fellow and studied at the Goethe Institute in Murnau, Germany. He graduated from the DePaul University College of Law and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1979.

Mr Brennan speaks French fluently and has a basic knowledge of German.

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world, with more than 3,400 lawyers in 64 offices in 25 countries. The firm is a national and international leader in franchise and distribution law, with clients ranging from entrepreneurs and start-up companies to the world's largest franchisors and manufacturers.

DLA Piper is positioned to help companies with their legal needs anywhere in the world. We are a full-service legal organisation whose principal practices include commercial contracts; corporate; employment, pensions and benefits; finance and restructuring; franchise and distribution; intellectual property; litigation and arbitration; projects and infrastructure; real estate; regulatory and government affairs; tax; and technology and media.

Our unmatched global presence enables us to meet the ongoing needs of our clients in the world's key economic, technology and governmental centres, including: London, New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Moscow, Tokyo, Shanghai, Chicago, Singapore, Brussels, Beijing, and Washington, DC.

In the US, DLA Piper has 1,500 lawyers and offices in 23 cities, including top business and technology markets across the country, from Baltimore and Boston to Silicon Valley and San Diego. We are also located in strategic markets such as Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Sacramento, Seattle and Tampa.