This session will walk AAFD chapter leaders and members through the strategic and practical importance of establishing a legal fund trust. Participants will learn how a trust serves as a powerful legal and organizational tool to protect franchisee rights, strengthen group negotiation power, and formalize chapter operations in line with AAFD best practices.
Mr. Purvin is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (AAFD), the oldest and largest generic direct member franchisee association. Since its organization in May, 1992, the AAFD has grown to over 5000 members representing more than 14,000 franchise units from more than 100 franchise systems.
Mr. Purvin is the author of The Franchise Fraud: How to Protect Yourself Before and After You Invest, (John Wiley and Sons, 1994; Updated and republished in Paperback in 2008), an expose' on the franchising industry. Mr. Purvin is critical of prevailing franchising product, and the lack of a level playing field between franchisors and franchisees, and Mr. Purvin calls for collective negotiation of franchise agreements and disputes as a favored method of solving problems in franchising.
Mr. Purvin serves as chair of the AAFD’s Fair Franchising Standards Committee. The committee, comprised of 45 members equally representing franchisors, franchisees and attorneys specializing in franchise law, authored the AAFD’s recently promulgated and published Fair Franchising Standards, which provide a basis for negotiating franchise relationships and offering AAFD accreditation to franchising companies whose programs meet the standards.
Prior to assuming the duties of Chief Executive Officer of the AAFD in 1992, Mr. Purvin practiced franchise law for 24 years, and continues some limited practice, mediation and expert witness assignments to the present. Although he has substantial experience representing the interests of both franchisors and franchisees, Mr. Purvin has gained the reputation as a pre-eminent authority relating the representation of franchisees.
Mr. Purvin has testified several times before Congressional and state legislative committees on issues relating to franchising from the franchisee's perspective. Mr. Purvin was twice invited to participate in forums and hearings conducted by the Federal Trade Commission in connection with the evaluation and updating of the FTC Rule on Franchising. Mr. Purvin also served on a special ad hoc committee organized by the US Small Business Administration to help design a streamlined program for processing SBA guaranteed loans for franchise owners.
A frequent speaker on franchise related issues, Mr. Purvin has been a keynote speaker for numerous franchisee groups including National Black McDonald’s Operators’ Association, National State Farm Agents Association, Meineke Dealers Association, the Denny’s Franchise Association, the North American Association of Subway Dealers, the Jenny Craig Franchisee Association and the Radio Shack Dealers Association. Mr. Purvin has three times been a plenary speaker at the American Bar Association Forum of Franchising.
Mr. Purvin has served as the Vice-Chair of the Franchise Law, Business Opportunities and Licensing Law Committee, and Chair of the Franchisee and Dealer Subcommittee, of the General Practice Section of the American Bar Association. Mr. Purvin is a member of the ABA Forum on Franchising and has served as a member of the State Bar of California Franchise Law Committee. In October 2005, Mr. Purvin was appointed by the California State Bar Board of Governors and the Board of Legal Specialization to the Franchise Law Consulting Group to define the franchise law legal specialty.
Mr. Purvin has written or contributed to numerous articles on franchising, and he and the AAFD have been featured, profiled, and/or quoted in scores of publications that have focused on franchising. Mr. Purvin was co-author of several papers published by the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, two of which (“Androcles and the Franchising Industry: Pulling out Thorns from the Franchise Relationship,” and “Speaking to be Heard: Effective Communication in Franchise Relationships”) which have since been republished as part of the American Bar Association’s Best of the Best series.
Mr. Purvin received his Bachelor of Arts Degree with high honors in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1969. Mr. Purvin received his Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in June, 1972.
Mr. Purvin engages in contract and dispute mediation and is an approved mediator of the National Franchise Mediation Program. Mr. Purvin recently served as mediator in the national contract negotiations for Meineke Discount Mufflers.
