Franchise Law
With Zing

Plave Koch is one of the largest franchise law practices in the country. Our combination of experience, efficiency, and practical, business-oriented thinking enables us to deliver first-class services at a reasonable cost.

Representing Franchisors Across The U.S. And Worldwide

Partners

Regina Amolsch

Attorney Regina Amolsch

Regina concentrates her practice in franchising, licensing, and distribution issues, as well as general corporate transactions. She provides advice and counseling on franchise relations, terminations, transfers, regulatory compliance, establishment and operation of franchise systems, and dispute resolution.

Valerie Brennan

Attorney Valerie Brennen

Valerie joined Plave Koch in January 2020 and leads the firm’s Trademarks & Copyrights practice. She has over 20 years of experience advising companies and associations on selecting, protecting, licensing, and enforcing their trademarks worldwide.

Leslie Curran

Attorney Leslie Curran

Leslie focuses on advising her clients (whether start-up, middle-market, or mature) on franchise and distribution law, including structuring the relationship and regulatory compliance. Her practice emphasizes both domestic and international franchises and licensing, as well as area development, area representative and sub-franchise arrangements.

Marisa Faunce

Attorney Marisa Faunce

Marisa counsels franchisors, licensors, and manufacturers on transactional, regulatory and intellectual property issues involved in developing and growing franchise programs. She also counsels franchisors regarding all aspects of the franchise relationship, including operational compliance, system standards, default and termination strategies and franchise workouts.


Dave Koch

Attorney Dave Koch

Dave co-founded Plave Koch PLC in 2007 after many years of large-firm partnership. His practice focuses on franchising, licensing, and supply chain transactions. Projects include structuring franchise programs and license arrangements, private equity investments in franchising, corporate and commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, antitrust counseling, advertising and marketing, and international expansion.

Michael Laidhold

Attorney Michael Laidhold

Michael joined Plave Koch as a partner in April 2007. He has over 20 years of experience with a variety of commercial, licensing, franchise, corporate and business development matters across a diverse range of industries.

Lee Plave

Attorney Lee Plave

Lee has extensive experience counseling distributors and franchisors, including drafting and negotiating franchise agreements for complex international and domestic transactions and advising clients on all aspects of franchise and distribution law.


Leslie Pujo

Attorney Leslie Pujo

Leslie brought her practice of mobility services and vehicle use law and franchising to Plave Koch PLC in April 2016. She is adept at counseling clients on franchise registration and disclosure matters, franchise relationship issues, and pre-litigation dispute resolution, as well as structuring franchise and other distribution systems in a variety of industries and bringing international systems to the United States.

Ben Reed

Attorney Ben Reed

Ben has been working with franchisors for over twenty years on a variety of litigation, counseling, transactional, and regulatory matters. Even though his experience spans a broad range of areas, Ben’s expertise is in litigating disputes of all kinds.

Jim Rubinger

Attorney Jim Rubinger

Jim brings over three decades of franchise litigation, arbitration, and mediation experience to Plave Koch. Jim’s resume includes some of the most significant cases in franchising, particularly in post-merger disputes.

Associates

Amanda Bannourah

Associate Amanda Bannourah

In her time at Plave Koch, Amanda works both on transactional and litigation matters. Amanda helps walk clients through the franchise process, and maintain the franchise relationship once established. She helps prepare franchise, transfer, and renewal agreements, as well as franchise disclosure documents. She coordinates annual franchise registration filings and renewals for the firm’s clients, alongside her co-workers. Further, Amanda helps conduct franchise system due diligence analysis for acquiring entities in merger and acquisition transactions.


Owen Gibson

Photo of attorney Owen Gibson

Owen joined Plave Koch as an associate attorney in December 2023. He previously focused his practice on affordable housing finance in the Washington, D.C. office of a boutique law firm.

Nora Murphy

Photo Of Nora Murphy

Nora joined Plave Koch as an associate in May 2021. She previously focused her practice on family law matters, as well as other litigation matters, with a mid-sized firm in central Maryland.

Abbey Taylor

Associate Abbey Taylor

Education
George Washington University (J.D.); Senior Production Editor, Federal Communications Law Journal
University of Oklahoma (B.A.)

Of Counsel

Joseph (“J.H.”) Snow

Photo of attorney Joseph ("J.H.") snow

With over 40 years of experience in franchising and distribution law, completing transactions in over 40 countries, J.H. is one of the most tenured attorneys on the Plave Koch team, and the only one to hail from the great State of Texas. Before entering private practice in 1994, J.H. served as in-house counsel for a number of corporations, laying the foundation for understanding business from an insider’s perspective, with responsibility for managing both in-house and outside attorneys and ultimately overseeing the legal affairs of a $500 million company from the General Counsel’s chair.


About Plave Koch PLC

Early in 1989, Lee Plave and Dave Koch, both recent alumni of the FTC who knew each other’s names but not faces, found themselves in neighboring associate offices at a mid-size Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in franchising. John Tifford and Jim Rubinger were already there. As Lee and Dave learned the ins and outs of private law practice and the business of franchising, they became fast friends and mutual admirers.

Conference table at the Plave Koch PLC law office

By The Numbers

Partners, Each With 18+ Years of Experience Representing Franchisors

Combined Years of Experience Representing Franchisors

Articles for ABA and IBA Legal Journals

Pretense

In The News