Biography
My work history includes the positions of Director, State Government Affairs for the International Franchise Association in Washington, DC, the leading franchise trade association (1978 to 1981); associate attorney specializing in franchise law with the Washington, DC law firm of Brownstein, Zeidman and Schomer (1981 - 1983); General Counsel of the International Franchise Association (1983 - 1985); partner in charge of the Washington, DC office of Kaufmann, Caffey, Gilden, Rosenblum & Schaeffer, specializing in franchise law (1986 - 1988); and partner with the Washington, DC office of Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti where I was co-chair of the franchise practice group and partner in charge of the trademark practice group (1988 -- 1993). I practiced in my own law office, the Law Offices of Andrew A. Caffey, since 1993; and formed Caffey Law Firm, LLC in February 2012.
I served as official Industry Advisor from the International Franchise Association during the four-year development of the Uniform Franchise and Business Opportunities Act promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (1983 - 1987). I served as a member of the Governing Committee of the Forum on Franchising of the American Bar Association (1989 - 1993), and served as Chair of the 1992 Annual Forum on Franchising Symposium. As Chair of the Symposium, I was responsible for selecting facilities, program topics, and faculty members, and reviewing the papers to be presented to a three day Franchise Law Symposium attended by more than 500 attorneys from around the country.
During my service as a staff counsel and General Counsel for the International Franchise Association I was involved in the development of many state and federal franchise investment laws, franchise relationship laws and state “business opportunity” legislation. As General Counsel, I prepared policy position statements, evaluated the impact of proposed legislation, presented testimony to state and federal regulators, and managed a staff of three professional lobbyists and attorneys responsible for representing the views of the franchisor community to state and federal legislative bodies and agencies.
I have written frequently on subjects related to distribution and contract law, owning a franchise, state and federal franchise laws, and business opportunity laws. My first book was published in January 2002 by Entrepreneur Press titled Franchises and Business Opportunities: How to Find, Buy and Operate a Successful Business. My second book is Stay Out of Court! The Small Business Guide to Preventing Disputes and Avoiding Lawsuit Hell, published in March 2005 (Entrepreneur Press). I have written several feature articles each year for AllBusiness.com and Entrepreneur Magazine on the subject of franchise and business opportunity regulation, and I have written a regular column on the global regulation of franchising for Entrepreneur Magazine International.
