Leadership In Law Podcast

S02E89 Discovering Your Dream Job in Franchise Law with Stuti Murarka

• Marilyn Jenkins • Season 2 • Episode 89

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Discover how a skilled franchise attorney transforms from legal advisor to strategic growth partner in this illuminating conversation with Stuti Murarka of Cheng Cohen. Having practiced law on two continents and passed the bar exam twice, Stuti brings a unique global perspective to franchise law that has helped single-unit operations evolve into multi-million dollar empires.

The conversation reveals the fascinating journey of a lawyer who never initially planned a legal career but now thrives at the intersection of business strategy and legal compliance. Stuti candidly shares how her mother's unrealized dream of becoming an attorney inspired her path, leading to a career that spans from arguing before India's Supreme Court to facilitating complex international franchise expansions.

What makes this discussion particularly valuable is Stuti's insight into the evolution of an attorney's mindset - from focusing purely on legal compliance to becoming a solution-oriented business partner. "Lawyers are often the reason deals don't happen because we're the naysayers," she explains. Her approach? Rather than simply identifying what clients cannot do, she presents multiple pathways to achieve business objectives while navigating legal constraints.

Franchise law emerges as a uniquely complex and rewarding specialty, requiring mastery of federal regulations, state-specific statutes, and international legal frameworks. Stuti's expertise in bridging cultural differences, particularly between Western and Asian business practices, illuminates how legal professionals can add exceptional value in global business expansion.

Reach Stuti here:

Email: stuti.murarka@chengcohen.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuti-murarka-80193237/

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leadership in Law podcast with host Marilyn Jenkins. Cut through the noise, get actionable insights and inspiring stories delivered straight to your ears your ultimate podcast for navigating the ever-changing world of law firm ownership. In each episode, we dive deep into the critical topics that matter most to you, from unlocking explosive growth to building a thriving team. We connect you with successful firm leaders and industry experts who share their proven strategies and hard-won wisdom. So, whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey as a law firm owner, the Leadership in Law podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. I'm your host, marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, studi Mararca, to the show today. Studi counsels a wide variety of clients on corporate and transactional matters within the franchise and distribution industry. Her practice focuses on complex business transactions ranging in size from public company mergers and acquisitions to the sale of a single unit franchise. Her services include contract negotiations, equity investments and joint ventures, cross-border corporate restructuring, financing and lending transactions, and the acquisition or divestiture of assets. Prior to joining Ching Cohen, studi practiced law in India for five years, where she argued several cases before various Indian high courts and the Supreme Court. Wow, I'm excited to have you here, stiti. Welcome. Thank you for having me on the show. Absolutely, I'm excited to hear your story. Can you tell our listeners about your leadership journey?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. I started my law journey in the US in 2017. I went to law school to get my master's degree. I got my master's in law and then I started working in Chicago. It was a bit of a journey as I had to sort of you know, go through, jump through a few roadblocks and you know immigration issues when I first moved here, because I moved here on a visa, on a student student visa and then I slowly had to find my way in the legal industry. I started working with Jen Cohen in 2019 and since then there's been no looking back. I absolutely love working in the franchising industry. You know I started with working on small, single unit franchisors that were just starting up and now, like advising large multi-unit franchisors, multi-brand franchisors who are leading franchisors within fitness industry, wellness industry, hotel industry, restaurant industry and, you know, increasingly doing more high stakes matter, doing strategic business development plans for them. So, yeah, it's been quite the journey.

Speaker 2:

Wow, and so you've been one of the few people that's done law school twice.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I had to, and then I had to be able to practice law in Illinois. I had to get my master's degree and appear for the bar exam again, so I went through that process twice, wow.

Speaker 2:

Very interesting. And how? How did you? Did you always want to work in a corporate environment? For you know, like the franchising type thing actually?

Speaker 3:

no, I come from a very different background in India, where I'd never thought of what I'd do once I grew up, because that was never the norm for, you know, girls in girls, in my family or in the small society that I lived in it was mostly like, oh, we'll figure out. Like you know, the men in our lives would figure out, like you know, what we're doing, etc. And then as I grew up, like, my mom was a huge influence in my life and she always wanted to do law and was not able to do law because at the time law schools in India were only night schools and of course it wasn't safe or considered safe for women to do a night school. So I wanted to do everything that my mom could not do, as sort of a tribute to her love. That, yeah, and I decided to law school.

Speaker 3:

It was almost a process of elimination. I wrote down a few things I did not want to do and a few things I wanted to do, and law resonated the most with me. And as I was going through law school I realized that I was more interested in corporate and transactional law, because in India when I first, at the time when I graduated, you had to sort of do everything. By everything I mean a little bit of litigation, a little bit of corporate transactions, a little bit of IP, so that you in some ways the jack of all trades. So yeah, that was required and I think that worked in my favor because it made me realize what my strengths and weaknesses were.

Speaker 2:

Excellent. Yeah, so it takes some somebody special to do the kind of contracts and all those types of negotiations. No more of a B2B instead of a B2C, right, very cool, and so you're working out of Chicago.

Speaker 3:

Yes, I work from Chicago. Chen Cohen is a boutique franchise law firm. We're a tier one nationally ranked law firm in the franchising industry and we have just one office here in Chicago. Like I said, we represent all types of franchisors and private equity firms that were invested in franchisors. Yeah, and you know, as a part of Changguin, I've gotten to represent some very unique clients and some extremely unique and special deals Excellent.

Speaker 2:

Now you said that your bias is that you work with different sizes. So say, I wanted to do a franchise, or I knew someone and they were. They wanted to franchise a restaurant or something. That would be something that you could help them get started in and grow with them as well.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. I am every you know. Once in a while you get inquiries from people Well, hey, I have this great idea for a restaurant. I am every you know, once in a while get inquiries from people Well, hey, I have this great idea for, while they already have their one restaurant, I've helped them come up with a proof of concept, a full business plan and take care of the compliance work, et cetera, and help them. And some of them are now like multi-unit franchisors with hundreds of restaurants across the country. Very successful brands that are doing great are probably, you know, have close to a billion dollars of worth of revenue from these restaurants. So it's a huge like when you think back in terms of how my small contribution helped them scale from that one restaurant into like close to hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. And you, it just feels like I was. I played a small role in making something big and that feels so good that would be.

Speaker 2:

That would be, I would imagine, being able to have just the the right types of help to help them see their dreams come true right and not all.

Speaker 3:

like I've always said this that you know, legal industry is one industry where you, the kinds of things that you get to do, are out of the ordinary, because you know, I made no offense to anyone who's in technology or anything but my siblings and my husband's in technology and while they create a lot of unique products which a lot of us use in everyday, you know life not knowing that they're using something that they created. But in law you come across people and you touch lives in so many different ways and you think it's a lot more tangible than some of the other industries. So, yeah, I don't think I could be anything but a lawyer.

Speaker 2:

Nice. I love that. So with work and also the thinking about working with franchises, the franchisors, the small ones, you also then have this amazing network of people that if a large franchise is looking to take over something or grow exponentially, you can connect your clients together for that M&A opportunity.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there's always room for that, you know, connecting private equities with franchisors, connecting franchisors with franchisors. Sometimes you need to create synergy. So if someone is into fitness and another person is into wellness and they're both looking to collaborate with you know each other, like you can always connect your clients and have like a unique promotional programs and we've done that. Like you know you we've done connected lots of restaurants that are complete competitors and you would not ordinarily think I know this has not happened, but I'm just giving you an example. For example, it's, you know, wanted to connect with another, like something like that. It hasn't happened, it's not gonna happen. Neither of them on my cloud. But yeah, we've done stuff like that where these two competing brands have come together for a hasn't happened, it's not going to happen. Neither of them are my clients, but yeah, we've done stuff like that where these two competing brands have come together for a promotional offer that's waiting to make to fly.

Speaker 2:

Very nice, very nice, and I think when we first spoke you kind of equate what you're doing as kind of an outside inside counsel yes, so I almost think of myself and most of us at my firm.

Speaker 3:

we think of ourselves as in-house counsel, like outside in-house counsel to our clients. So a lot of franchise brands, even the large ones, while they have in-house counsel who advise them on litigation, on securities law, on taxation, other and other matters uniquely because of the nature of franchising industry or franchise law industry, not a lot of them have in-house franchise counsel, which is very unique, very surprising, because franchising is a huge area of compliance for franchise brands and and that's where we step in. So we almost like handhold our clients to do all their compliance work, anything and everything related to franchise operations. So we almost act as their in-house counsel, advising them on what they should and should not do. Here's a checklist of all the compliance things you need to take care of, here's your FDD, here's what you should do to stay out of trouble, et cetera. And yeah, that's the role we play. Like we've never looked at ourselves as my role is limited to just doing compliance work as compliance work for my client.

Speaker 3:

it's almost sort of, you know, been all encompassing, you know, hand--holding in-house counsel type of a role and I would imagine the compliance got to be absolutely complex with, yeah, across state lines and you know I mean, I I don't want to convert this into a franchise law 101 type of a class, but franchising is one of those unique industries that is regulated at the federal level and even at state level, like each state. Not every state has a franchise statute, but there are a good like 14 states that have franchise statutes, plus a lot of states that don't have franchise statutes, that have relationship statutes, etc. So so what that basically means is, anytime I want to do something in a state, I want to establish a franchise relationship in a state, I need to think about the federal law and I also need to think about what state law impacts them, whether I can ease. If a franchisee ends up being a bad actor or not a good partner for my brand, how can I get out of that relationship? How difficult would it be to get out of that relationship? Would there be any sort of impact on that?

Speaker 3:

And we help our clients do that, not just domestically, but we also help them scale internationally. I've helped my clients scale into sort of Latin America, asia, europe and especially Asia, because I have worked in India and I have business contacts, legal relationships over there. So it just makes. And Asia is a unique market because it's culturally so different and business is done a little bit differently over there as compared to the united states, and having understanding of both markets and how both of these markets work, I can sort of bring that synergy and, you know, a unique interplay for my clients, just who wants, who want to expand in asia. So yeah, very good.

Speaker 2:

That's very interesting and, of course, having someone that's familiar with the, the culture. Now, when you say, as you're talking, obviously India, but not particularly China and Taiwan because there are some language barriers in those countries and also unique sets of law.

Speaker 3:

That said, I have helped my clients expand into the UAE and some parts of the Middle East. We've also had recently I'm working on a UK expansion, so United Kingdoms and Ireland helping my clients with that expansion. We've helped our clients expand in Japan, even with language barriers over there. Of course we have engaged local council. We've helped us in some of those expansions and compliance with local laws. But it's been a very interesting journey helping them expand globally.

Speaker 2:

I was just going to say it sounds like, with having every day is different, right. So with having so many opportunities, it sounds like it would be an exciting position to be in. I always wonder, you know, asking how did you end up in your? And I'd end up, but choose your niche, and it sounds like you picked something that just brightens your life.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it wasn't a deliberate choice, that this is absolutely what I want to do. I always knew that I had a leaning towards, you know, commercial transactions and business law, and you know I just followed my calling. And this is where I mean life happened and I kind of started unraveling it piece by piece and I learned that I love it so much that I just here I am doing some very niche, humane work Super happy that I have this.

Speaker 2:

That's fantastic. I love that. If I could wave a magic wand and solve any problem in your farm right now, what would it be?

Speaker 3:

Can you?

Speaker 2:

rephrase that question for me again. So if I can wave a magic wand and solve any problem that you have in your firm right now, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

I think right now the problem. What I think is I'm someone who likes to come into office on five days a week and we have a three-day in work from office policy and I would love for it to become five days a week because I feel like a lot of collaboration happens when everyone's like the entire team is together. So I don't think it's gonna happen because I know when my colleagues hear that they'll probably come back daggers with me and be like what are you talking about? But I'd love for more infos and collaboration in the office.

Speaker 2:

Interesting. Yeah, it seems like people are on there's. There's not a real gray area. You either love the work from home or you don't love the work from home. You know you want but I think you're right A lot of that networking. A lot of the collaboration and ideas take place in the hall, you know, in between appointments or meetings and that sort of thing.

Speaker 3:

And you know I do love the flexibility of working from home, especially when my little one's sick or, you know, something's happening and it needs my attention. So, yeah, I love that flexibility and I understand, like you know, people have different lives, like my life is so much more, so much different than most of my colleagues. So I understand that everyone has different needs and we need to respect that. Some people need to work from home a couple of times a week. But I'd love for sort of you know, somehow magically, if I'm waiting for you know the technology I'm forgetting what it's called but you wear those oculates or those glasses and you feel like the same go, even if you're not in the same row, like even if we could use some technology like that, and be like, okay, let's talk about this real quick and let's talk about that real quick, like I'd love for it for that that is interesting.

Speaker 2:

I did see a. I had a meeting with a client and we actually were in an environment that was like laid out of a building and we went to the break room and we were sitting at and it was just really interesting. We didn't use the VR headsets or anything like that, but no, I agree what you're saying is, if you can make it feel like you're in the same room, it just. I think you're going to open that up more Because we do have, you know, that barrier of we're on Zoom or whatever. That's true if we're on Zoom or whatever that's true.

Speaker 2:

Well, I'm excited to talk with you and hear how you're excited about your business, because I can tell you do an amazing job for your clients. If you're that excited about their future. That's amazing. If you wanted to give us any takeaway, what would you want our listeners to take away about your journey or what you're doing for your clients and maybe potential new attorneys out there?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean a few things to keep in mind as a young attorney who's starting off and this was something you know my mentor had told me don't try and impress the client. The client will be impressed by your work. So try and focus on your work. As a young attorney, you know, we want to make sure that our work's highlighted and we're saying something that's you know, that's going to stand out and stick in the client's mind so that they remember you or you know they think of your work highly. But instead of focusing on what can I say to achieve that, I think the focus should be on saying something, on doing your work so well that the work in itself stands out. So if you're doing compliance work, sort of, make sure that your checklists are accurate, they're all encompassing, nothing's left out because it's so demoted that it may not happen. Because every time you think that, oh, this is not likely to happen I met you it will yes it will come back in ways that you don't want it to come back.

Speaker 3:

So make sure your checklist and your sort of emails are all encompassing. They sort of lay out various scenarios and how they can play out. Another thing as you sort of grow in your career, a little bit you could do is, you know, step into the shoes of a business person. Like as attorneys, we always start to think about the law through law school and only years of our career. But as you become a mid-level attorney, you have to increasingly great. You've mastered your law and you know the law you know very well and you've been implementing it very well.

Speaker 3:

But often you'll realize that legal beat, like lawyers, are the reason why deals don't happen, because we are the naysayers. We keep telling our clients oh, if you do this it's not good for your business, if you do that, that's not good for your business. And yes, that's a part of our job. A part of our job is to tell our clients that you know you're at a risk in terms of what you are trying to do. But as a mid-level attorney, there's another part to it, which is finding solutions. We have to bridge that gap between what law does not. We have to bridge that gap between what law does not, or what's a risk in the eyes of the law, versus what the business wants to achieve. And of course, you need to sort of find that path to make your business team achieve their goals. Within you know, the four walls of what's legally committed. So finding that solution is what you need to do, and to do that you need to step into the shoes of the business team.

Speaker 3:

So you know, now I've reached a point in my career where, instead of thinking of what law to apply first, I'm thinking of here's what your goal is.

Speaker 3:

So here's what my client wants to achieve. Here are a few different ways it can achieve, and here is the list of issues or the pros and cons of each of these sort of unique paths that my client can take. And then I evaluate each of them and sort of lay that out. So that has proved to be very helpful for my clients because they can see the different options that they can use to achieve their goals and the pros and cons of each one of them. And sometimes what happens is a ceo or a cfo will find a way to blend each of those three parts, and that's where we bring synergy, you know that's where the legal and the business is working sort of hand in hand to create something so unique and sort of value add so much to our client's portfolio in that way it sounds like you move from being and I don't mean to say just the professional that does the pay more to a coach and consulting and a team member, so now you're getting directly back to that outside inside counsel Absolutely Excellent.

Speaker 2:

I love that and I love the idea of giving them three options that accomplish their goal and then they can determine which works best for their yeah, because at the end of the day, no one wants to hear.

Speaker 3:

You can't do that. If a business person comes to me and all I say you can't do this because there's X, y, Z risk associated with this, you can't do that because there's ADC risk associated with that. I mean they're going to stop coming to me after a point because all I'm doing is telling them. No, like I'm not, I have to think about the next step for finding a solution. You cannot do this in this manner, but you could do that, and here's how you could do that and mitigate your risk yet reach your goals.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Well, sales like you are just a great attorney for your clients and I'm excited to hear that. I know my listeners are probably going to want to connect with you and chat with you a little bit. What would be the best place to do that?

Speaker 3:

I'm not sure if you have like a link or like a message box where I could drop my email information I think yeah, and I have your linkedin as well.

Speaker 2:

Is linkedin a good place to connect you?

Speaker 3:

yeah, you can connect with me on linkedin. You can email me at my email address. If you just search for my google, my name and my phone's name is tuti mararca at jenko, and you know my, my email address, my phone's name, stuti Murarka at Genco, and you know my email address, my phone number. All of that's like available freely on the internet. So, yeah, feel free to reach out if you have questions or if you just want to chat about law or how to sort of grow and scale your practice become, you know, a more valuable asset to your clients. I'm always very, very passionate about that and happy to chat with anyone who wants to to your clients. I'm always very, very passionate about that and happy to chat with anyone who wants to chat about that.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I'll make sure that we get your email and your phone number and your LinkedIn in the show notes and yeah, guys that are listening, reach out. She's got some great stories and she's got some great energy to talk about. I love it. Thank you so much for being here with us today.

Speaker 4:

Thank you and I love chatting with you. Thanks for joining me today for this episode. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about, and if you're ready to take the next step with a digital strategist to help you grow your law firm, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to lawmarketingzonecom to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, thanks for listening to Leadership in Law podcast and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. Remember you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same success. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzonecom. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episodes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.

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Marilyn Jenkins

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