David Kornhauser

David has a broad based business law practice involving two complementary areas. One being franchise law and the second being corporate/commercial law.

David’s franchise law practice involves representing franchisors, franchisee associations, franchisor advisory councils, groups of franchisees, as well as individual franchisees in the areas of franchising, licensing and distribution. David provides legal advice with respect to the structure and preparation of franchise agreements and ancillary documentation; the preparation of disclosure documents; the determination of the obligations imposed on a franchisor by franchise legislation; terminations and transfers; addressing relationship problems and advising on ways to enhance franchise and distribution relationships; the sale or acquisition of franchise systems; the establishment of a new franchise system in Canada. Additionally, David has considerable experience in the structure and organization of franchise associations, providing ongoing advice to franchisee associations and advocating the position of franchise associations and franchisees with franchisors.

In respect of his corporate/commercial law practice, David provides legal advice and representation in connection with the structure and negotiation of, and draft agreements for: the purchase/sale of businesses; shareholder, partnership, joint venture and co-tenancy agreements; corporate amalgamations, restructuring and reorganizations; royalty based agreements, including the licensing and/or distribution of software, patents, products and franchises; information technology agreements, including licensing, outsourcing, support and service agreements; corporate financing; the securitisation and realization of assets; commercial leasing; documentation for shareholder meetings; corporate governance.

David is recognized as a leading franchise lawyer by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and (previously by) Best Lawyers in Canada. David is the recipient of the 2015 Markus Cohen Award, an award granted by the Ontario Bar Association’s (OBA) Franchise Law Section for scholarly contributions to the area of franchise law.

He is co-author of “Franchisee Associations in Canada” (Carswell, 2011) and is the Franchise Law Editor for the Toronto Law Association Journal. He has co-chaired several conferences for the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) or OBA; has been a speaker at numerous franchising conferences and authored or co-authored numerous papers.

David has been a member of the CFA for over 25 years and the American Bar Association Franchise Law Section for 15 years; has been a member of the Executive of the OBA’s Franchise Law Section for over two decades and serves as Chair (September, 2022, to August, 2023) of the Franchise Law Section; was Chair of the Bar Education Working Group of the Franchise Law Section, a group formed to educate Ontario lawyers on franchise law; was for the period from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2019, the co-Chair of the Franchise Law Section’s Continuing Professional Development programming; is the Franchise Law editor for Toronto Law Journal; and was co-editor of “Franchising 101”, a web-site developed to provide basic information on franchise law for Ontario lawyers. David also sits on the CFA’s Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee, the CFA’s Uniform Law Commission of Canada Working Group which is drafting amendments to the Uniform Franchises Act and the Ontario Bar Association Subcommittee reviewing and recommending amendments to Ontario franchise legislation.

David is the father of four daughters and an avid yoga enthusiast.