L. Michael Han­kes is a fran­chise attor­ney licensed in Mass­a­chu­setts and New Hamp­shire who focuses his prac­tice on the rep­re­sen­ta­tion of fran­chisees, deal­ers and dis­trib­u­tors. He rep­re­sents clients with fran­chis­ing issues from all over the United States. Michael Han­kes is a trial lawyer with many years of expe­ri­ence in the arts of strate­gic plan­ning and analy­sis, nego­ti­a­tion and dis­pute res­o­lu­tion. The ser­vices he offers to fran­chise clients are var­ied and include group rep­re­sen­ta­tion, strate­gic plan­ning and analy­sis, espe­cially for multi-unit fran­chises. He pro­vides ser­vices in mul­ti­ple aspects of dis­pute res­o­lu­tion, up to and includ­ing trial on the mer­its of dis­puted issues between fran­chisees and their fran­chisors. Mr. Han­kes rep­re­sents inde­pen­dent fran­chisee asso­ci­a­tions. In addi­tion, he engages in the rep­re­sen­ta­tion of groups of fran­chisees in both the col­lec­tive nego­ti­a­tion of group issues and the pros­e­cu­tion of group rights in Court, arbi­tra­tion or medi­a­tion settings.

The Inde­pen­dent Hardee’s Fran­chisee Asso­ci­a­tion and the Meineke Deal­ers Asso­ci­a­tion have engaged the ser­vices of Michael Han­kes as legal coun­sel. From 1999–2000, Michael Han­kes served as lead nego­tia­tor in group nego­ti­a­tions of a new fran­chise agree­ment spear­headed by 111 indi­vid­ual deal­ers and clients from the Meineke Dis­count Muf­fler Shops, Inc. (Meineke) fran­chise sys­tem. The new Meineke fran­chise agree­ment won the Fair Fran­chis­ing Seal from the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Fran­chisees and Deal­ers (AAF&D) with one of the high­est scores ever awarded to a major fran­chisor by the AAF&D. Michael Han­kes received a Chairman’s Award from the Meineke deal­ers at the AAF&D’s annual con­ven­tion in San Diego in April of 2000 for his efforts as lead nego­tia­tor for the Meineke deal­ers. In June of 2002, Michael Han­kes won an indi­vid­ual Chairman’s award from the AAF&D at its annual meet­ing in Chicago for his out­stand­ing ser­vice to the fran­chise com­mu­nity. In May of 2006, he won yet another Chairman’s Award from the AAF&D for his work in the land­mark case of Inde­pen­dent Asso­ci­a­tion of Mail­box Cen­ter Own­ers, Inc. et al. v. The Supe­rior Court of San Diego County, Mail Boxes Etc., U.S.A., Inc. et al., 133 Cal.App.4^th 396 (2005).

L. Michael Han­kes has an AV rat­ing from Martindale-Hubbell. In appro­pri­ate cases, Mr. Han­kes uti­lizes cre­ative fee agree­ments that mod­ify tra­di­tional hourly billing. Please con­tact Michael Han­kes whose biog­ra­phy is set out in this web­site, if you think he may be of ser­vice to you.

From time to time arti­cles and new items writ­ten about or aris­ing in the con­text of fran­chis­ing are posted in the arti­cles sec­tion of the website. Mr. Han­kes offers these arti­cles and news items as a pub­lic ser­vice for fran­chisees, deal­ers and dis­trib­u­tors as well as the lawyers ser­vice their interests.