Valerie Brennan joined Plave Koch in January 2020 and leads the firm’s Trademarks & Copyrights practice. She has over 20 years of experience advising companies and associations on selecting, protecting, licensing, and enforcing their trademarks worldwide.

Leslie focuses on advising her clients (whether start-up, middle-market, or mature) on franchise and distribution law, including structuring the relationship and regulatory compliance. Her practice emphasizes both domestic and international franchises and licensing, as well as area development, area representative and sub-franchise arrangements.

Marisa counsels franchisors, licensors, and manufacturers on transactional, regulatory and intellectual property issues involved in developing and growing franchise programs. She also counsels franchisors regarding all aspects of the franchise relationship, including operational compliance, system standards, default and termination strategies and franchise workouts.

David Koch co-founded Plave Koch PLC in 2007 after many years of large-firm partnership. His practice focuses on franchising, licensing, and supply chain transactions.  Projects include structuring franchise programs and license arrangements, private equity investments in franchising, corporate and commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, antitrust counseling, advertising and marketing, and international expansion.

Michael Laidhold joined Plave Koch as a partner in April 2007. He has over 20 years of experience with a variety of commercial, licensing, franchise, corporate and business development matters across a diverse range of industries.

Lee has extensive experience counseling distributors and franchisors, including drafting and negotiating franchise agreements for complex international and domestic transactions and advising clients on all aspects of franchise and distribution law.

Leslie Pujo brought her practice of mobility services and vehicle use law and franchising to Plave Koch PLC in April 2016.  She is adept at counseling clients on franchise registration and disclosure matters, franchise relationship issues, and pre-litigation dispute resolution, as well as structuring franchise and other distribution systems in a variety of industries and bringing international systems to the United States.

Ben has been working with franchisors for over twenty years on a variety of litigation, counseling, transactional, and regulatory matters. Even though his experience spans a broad range of areas, Ben’s expertise is in litigating disputes of all kinds.

Jim brings over three decades of franchise litigation, arbitration, and mediation experience to Plave Koch. Jim’s resume includes some of the most significant cases in franchising, particularly in post-merger disputes.

Setareh joined Plave Koch as an associate in November 2016. She has over 9 years of legal experience with a variety of regulatory and corporate matters across a diverse range of industries.