Eleanor Gerhards

Practice Areas

Eleanor serves as outside general corporate and franchise legal counsel to startup and established franchise clients. She guides the structuring of franchise programs, drafts franchise documents and counsels clients on regulatory compliance and state registration matters.

She handles a variety of complex matters for clients, including:

- acquisitions and sales of franchise businesses

- administration and negotiation of supply chain agreements and relationships

- advertising fund creation

- conversion of licensing, subscription or distribution models to franchise systems

- coordination with foreign counsel on expansion of brands outside the United States

- foreign brands entry into the U.S. market

- master franchising, multi-unit licensing and area-development business arrangements

- risk management alternatives to standard insurance products for a franchisor and its franchisees, including risk retention groups, captives and risk purchasing groups

Professional Memberships

Pennsylvania Bar Association | Bucks County Bar Association | American Bar Association, Women's Caucus Steering Committee | ABA Forum on Franchising | International Franchise Association, Philadelphia Women’s Franchise Network | Central Bucks and Eastern Montgomery Chamber of Commerce | Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Bar Admissions: Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Education