Opening in Australia without the expensive surprises.
Your brand works at home. Australia has its own franchise rules, its own contract habits and a few traps that only show up after you've signed. We help overseas businesses get the Australian documents right the first time.
Who the desk acts for
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Franchisors
Appointing a master franchisee for Australia, or opening company stores first and franchising later.
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Brands opening their own stores
Retail, food and service businesses setting up an Australian company, its contracts and its supply lines.
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Buyers of an Australian business
Overseas investors and groups buying a going concern, from the first offer to completion.
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Law firms abroad
Firms whose client needs Australian law covered, with us working alongside them.
What catches overseas businesses
Five things that work differently here.
- 01
The Franchising Code doesn't care what you call the deal.
It covers a franchise agreement whether it is written, oral or implied. A licence or distribution deal that works like a franchise is likely to be treated as one, with the disclosure and conduct rules that come with it.
- 02
Disputes stay in Australia.
A franchisor must not sign an agreement that makes an Australian franchisee sue, or mediate, outside the state or territory where the business runs, or outside Australia. Most international templates carry a home-court clause. Here it has to come out, and leaving it in carries a civil penalty.
- 03
Disclosure happens before anyone signs.
The Code requires a disclosure document in its own set form, kept current, and given to a prospective franchisee before the agreement is signed. A pack written for another country won't satisfy it as it stands.
- 04
Buying a business may need approval first.
Some acquisitions by foreign persons need clearance under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) before they complete. Whether yours does turns on who is buying and what. We check it at the start of the deal, not the week before settlement.
- 05
Your trade mark at home doesn't protect you here.
Trade marks are territorial. Register the brand in Australia before launch, ideally before you sign a lease or announce the opening.
- 06
The shop lease, often the costliest of all.
Retail leases in Australia carry state rules that override what the lease says. That work runs through The Leasing Lawyer, the practice's leasing site.
What the desk does
- Franchise agreements adapted to the Code
- Australian disclosure documents
- Master franchise and area development agreements
- Setting up the Australian company
- Agreements with the parent company
- Buying a business
- Supply and distribution agreements
- Terms of trade
- Australian trade marks
- Website terms and privacy policies
Every agreement comes back with a short table of the points that matter and what to ask for. Plain English, or Persian if you prefer.
Then, training for your team
Once you're trading, the practice trains your Australian people: short sessions on the contracts, business deals and leases they handle every week, online or in person, at fixed prices.
More for overseas businesses
Before, during and after the launch.
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Selling into Australia without a company here
Distribution and agency agreements for brands that sell through a local partner. Then a check of your warranties, terms and marketing against the Australian Consumer Law. The consumer guarantees can't be contracted out of, and a business that proposes an unfair term in a standard form consumer or small business contract can now face a penalty.
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Setting up, and the first hires
Company or registered branch. A foreign company has to register with ASIC before it carries on business here and keep a local agent. An Australian proprietary company needs at least one director who ordinarily lives in Australia. We explain the options and draft the documents; we don't take those roles ourselves. Then the first employment contracts and the award that applies.
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Legal cover for the Australian arm
Once you're running, a fixed monthly retainer makes the practice the first call for your Australian team: contracts as they arrive, staff questions, letters from a regulator. One fee, agreed in writing, instead of an in-house lawyer.
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Getting paid, and handling customer data
For overseas suppliers chasing Australian customers: letters of demand, payment plans and statutory demands against companies, without going to court. And privacy: a business that sends Australians' personal information offshore generally stays answerable for what happens to it there, so the policy and the data flows have to match.
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Common questions
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Can you be our local director or local agent?
No. We explain what each role involves, what it exposes the person to and what to look for in someone you appoint, but the practice doesn't take those appointments.
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Do you advise on the law of our home country?
No. The desk advises on Australian law only, from Sydney. Your own lawyers keep your home-country position, and we work alongside them where the two meet.
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Do I need to be in Australia to instruct you?
No. The work runs by email and video, and meetings are set for your time zone. Documents are signed electronically where the law allows it.
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How are fees set?
A fixed fee for a defined piece of work, quoted in writing in Australian dollars before anything starts. If the scope changes, you get a new quote first, not a surprise on the invoice.
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What about the lease for our first store?
Leases are a separate negotiation and they're often where overseas tenants lose the most money. The practice runs that work through The Leasing Lawyer, its leasing site, so the lease and the rest of the entry move together.
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Do you take court cases?
No. The practice works outside the courtroom. If a dispute needs a court, we say so early and hand it to a litigator with the work already done. Nobody pays anybody for that referral.
Start with a short note
Tell us the brand, where you trade now, the Australian cities you have in mind and how far along you are. You'll hear back within one business day with what we need and a fixed fee.
Make an enquiry [email protected]
General information about Australian law only, not legal advice, and not advice on the law of any other country.