The Miami office of global law firm K&L Gates LLP has added Jason M. Murray as a corporate partner focusing on franchise and distribution law. Murray joins K&L Gates from Gunster, where he served as a shareholder and leader of the franchise and distribution practice.

Murray advises clients on the creation, management, licensing, protection, and enforcement of franchised business relationships, product distribution systems, and dealership networks, including matters relating to franchising licensing and development, regulations, and compliance. Murray’s practice also consists of dispute resolution through mediation, arbitration, and litigation. He represents clients in state and federal courts as well as arbitrations in matters including disputes over wrongful terminations, post-termination provisions, non-compete covenants, confidential information disclosures, and the wrongful use of intellectual property.

“We are excited to welcome Jason to K&L Gates,” said Steven R. Weinstein, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Miami office. “His extensive experience in the franchise area serves as a valuable addition to both our firmwide practice and our growing Miami office, which also added aviation finance partner Marie-Pierre Grondin last fall.”

Recognized by Best Lawyers as the 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” for franchise law in Miami, Murray is an active member of the bar and community, having served as a past president of both the Dade County Bar Association and the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr., Bar Association as well as chair of the Antitrust, Franchise & Trade Regulation committee of the business law section of the Florida Bar.

Murray’s arrival also follows the addition of corporate partner Steven Olenick in New York in January.

With decades of experience advising franchisors and master franchisees across a variety of industries, K&L Gates has a 360-degree view of the global franchising industry and delivers a full range of services to companies doing business around the world through the firm’s extensive global platform. The firm’s representation of franchisors ranges from emerging systems to some of the world’s largest franchisors.

The firm’s corporate practice is one of the most substantial in the legal industry, with more than 500 lawyers in offices on five continents assisting clients in the structuring, financing, and completion of domestic, international, and cross-border transactions. Recently, the practice helped to earn K&L Gates the distinction of corporate “Law Firm of the Year” in U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ annual “Best Law Firms” report and recognition from Forbes as one of America’s top corporate law firms.