News

Harold Kestenbaum and Roger Quinland Join Gordon & Rees to Expand Franchise Law Practice

September 2011

On September 1, 2011, Gordon & Rees expanded its Franchise Law Practice with the addition of two well known leaders in the national and international franchise law and business communities - Harold Kestenbaum and Roger Quinland.  The Gordon & Rees Franchise Law Practice consists of more than 40 lawyers located throughout the U.S. handling all aspects of representation for a wide range of businesses involved in franchising.  With the addition of Partners Kestenbaum and Quinland, Gordon & Rees now offers comprehensive experience providing both litigation and transactional services.  Harold and Roger are located in the firm’s offices in New York City and Long Island, and serve franchise industry clients throughout the world.

Harold Kestenbaum
Mr. Kestenbaum has more than 35 years of specialized transactional experience in the franchise, distribution and licensing arena, and has served as franchise counsel to many regional, national and international franchise companies in a variety of industries.  He represents exclusively franchisors, both first-time start-up and multi-unit established systems, and authored So You Want to Franchise Your Business, the first step-by-step guide to what a businessperson needs to know and do to properly roll out a franchise program.  Mr. Kestenbaum has served as the Chief Executive Officer of a national franchisor and a Director of many nationally and internationally known franchisors, including Sbarro, Inc.  In addition, he served as President and Chairman of the Board of FranchiseIt Corporation, the first publicly-traded company, which he co-founded, specializing in providing franchise marketing and consulting services and equity financing to emerging franchise companies.

Roger Quinland
Mr. Quinland focuses his practice on the transactional, regulatory and corporate needs of both domestic and international franchisors.  He guides both start-up and well established franchisors in the structuring and development of their franchise networks.  Mr. Quinland counsels clients across a wide range of industries.  These include specialty retail, restaurants and food service, real estate brokerage, fitness, hospitality and leisure, publishing, tax preparation, and video gaming and tutoring.  Mr. Quinland drafts franchise disclosure documents, prepares regional development agreements and coordinates the filing of state franchise registration and exemption applications.  His clients rely on him as strategic business advisor with whom they can consult on complex issues such as defaults, system changes, international expansion and the use of social media.