Profile: John F Dienelt

Franchise

Biography: Franchise

John F Dienelt is chair of the franchise litigation practice of DLA Piper US LLP. He is a litigator with more than 25 years of trial and appellate experience, particularly in franchising, antitrust, intellectual property and other commercial cases. Mr Dienelt has concentrated in complex litigation, including class actions. He has also represented private parties in disputes with the federal government before courts and administrative agencies. He has tried, or handled arbitrations in, more than 75 cases and has argued more than 25 appeals in various federal and state courts and the US Supreme Court.

Mr Dienelt has written numerous articles, and regularly spoken at programmes, on franchising. He has served as a member of the governing committee of the ABA Forum on Franchising and was its chair from 1999 to 2001. He has also served on the Steering Committee of the National Franchise Mediation Program and as an instructor in the National Institute of Trial Advocacy programme at Georgetown University. He has been recognised by the DC Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights for his pro bono activities. He currently teaches franchise law at the University of Virginia School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He also serves as a mediator for the US Court of Appeals and for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Mr Dienelt was a law clerk to the Honorable Gerhard A Gesell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. He then served as assistant to the solicitor general in the United States Department of Justice, where he briefed and argued cases before the US Supreme Court, and as Washington counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, before entering private practice.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia, Mr Dienelt received an MA from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. He received his LLB from Yale Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Yale Law Journal and a member of the Order of the Coif.

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 franchisers 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.