Nicole Liguori Micklich

Nicole Liguori Micklich has earned a reputation for successfully representing franchisees and development agents at every step of the franchise relationship and in litigation with franchisors. She also frequently draws on her construction knowledge and experience to effectively represent property owners and contractors in a variety of construction disputes.

Ms. Micklich's commitment to her clients and to the field of franchise law leads to enviable results. The outcome of each case depends on the facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Ms. Micklich routinely assists potential franchisees as they review disclosure documents and proposed agreements.

She has successfully represented development agents and franchisees in arbitration and in state and federal courts in cases regarding alleged non-compliance, termination and non-renewal, franchisor refusal to consent to transfer, bad faith, contract and tort claims, and violations of state and federal laws, including disclosure laws. She has also favorably settled numerous cases on behalf of franchisees and development agents involved in such disputes.

Ms. Micklich advises clients regarding the transfer of franchise agreements and has drafted and negotiated the Asset Purchase Agreements and related Agreements, Notes and Resolutions for those transactions. She also frequently drafts and negotiates termination agreements and releases.

Ms. Micklich enjoys extensive involvement in the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, where she is a member of the Governing Committee. She was a co-chair of the Forum’s 46^th Annual Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, November 1-3, 2023. With Mark VanderBroek, Ms. Micklich recently co-authored and presented Annual Developments in Franchise and Distribution Law for the Forum on Franchising. The book provides an overview of franchise cases and developments over its reporting year and the authors provided a comprehensive and entertaining review of the year's key judicial and legislative developments affecting franchise and distribution during the Forum's Annual Meeting. She has served on multiple committees of the Forum and was humbled to be the recipient of the 2017 ABA Forum on Franchising Future Leader Award.

Ms. Micklich is honored to be a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and proudly holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent^TM Rating and strives to work easily and collegially with franchisor counsel. She was included in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for franchise law and was recognized as a Super Lawyer in the field of Franchise/Distribution in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and prior to that time was named to the New England Rising Starts list each year from 2010 through 2016. For more about the Super Lawyer selection process visit http://www.superlawyers.com/Connecticut/Selection_details.html. 

Ms. Micklich has taught Franchise Law as an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University Law School, in Hamden, Connecticut, and is a frequent author and lecturer on franchise law. Panels on which Ms. Micklich has recently presented include:

•Encroachment, Breach of Exclusivity and Reservation of Rights in Franchise Agreements, IDI Conference, 2023

•Fundamentals of Franchising, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2022

•Annual Developments in Franchise and Distribution Law, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2021

•Re-Examining FPRs During and After the Pandemic, International Franchise Association, 2020

•A Sharper Focus on the Shifting Realities for Franchisees in the 2020s, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2020

•Practical Tips in Franchise Arbitration: With Speed, Fairness and Cost in Mind, American Arbitration Association Webinar, 2020 available here

•Franchising Going Viral - Managing Coronavirus-driven Disruption in Contracts, Supply Chains, and More, ABA Forum on Franchising Webinar, March 23, 2020

•Structuring the New Franchisee Evaluation and Approval Process, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2019

•As My Franchisor Lay Dying: Franchisee and Franchisor Options in a Struggling System, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2017

•So ... You May Want to Teach Franchise Law: A Webinar for Anyone Who Has Considered Teaching Franchise Law, (Moderator), American Bar Association Webinar, 2017

•If You're Not Worried About Your Arbitration Clause, You're Not Paying Attention: Lessons Learned from Recent Case Law, American Bar Association Webinar, December 8, 2016

•Litigating on a Shoestring, Solo & Small Firm Breakfast, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2016

•Who Owns the Goodwill in a Franchise?, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, 2015 

Articles written or co-authored by Ms. Micklich include:

•Professional Franchises: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same, Franchise Law Journal, Spring 2019, Co-authored with Lauren Lyngholm Crowe

•Strange Weather: California's Amended Franchise Relations Act, AB 525, Franchise Law Journal, Spring 2016, Co-authored with Elizabeth Weldon

•Who Owns the Goodwill in Franchise Relationships?, The Franchise Lawyer, Spring 2015

In her construction law practice, Ms. Micklich represents property owners, condominium associations, general contractors and subcontractors. She regularly advises clients regarding contracts and corporate plans and policies and drafts Construction Management Agreements, Agreements between Owner and Contractor and General Conditions of Contracts for Construction, Design Build Agreements, Subcontracts, and Agreements between Owner and Architect. Ms. Micklich represents commercial landlords and tenants in preparing and negotiating lease agreements and related documents. Ms. Micklich has successfully represented property owners in various construction and design defect claims and in land use disputes. The results in any case depend on the facts and circumstances of that particular case. 

Representative cases include:

•Representing a Rhode Island Condominium Association in connection with formation, transition, and related issues and resolving disputes with declarant

•Representing landowners in securing solar supply and installation agreements

•Advising homeowners regarding claims against home builders and design professionals for negligence, breach of contract, incomplete and defective work, damage to work-in-place, misrepresentations, fraud, and violations of Rhode Island and Connecticut law.

•Favorably resolved claims of real property purchaser relating to condition of the property, purchase and sale agreement, and title.

•Favorably settled claims of design-build contractor against owner, subcontractors, and design team arising on low-income housing project.

•Successfully represented condominium association in dispute with prior owners, contractors, and design team arising from construction and transition of luxury apartment complex.

•Favorably settled claims of major subcontractor against owner, general contractor and surety arising on senior residential and assisted living project.

•Successfully represented major subcontractor on private school project in dispute with State of Connecticut Department of Labor, to satisfaction of both client and general contractor.

•Successfully resolved dispute between homeowner and manufacturer and installer of spray polyurethane foam insulation through private mediation, without filing lawsuit.

•Successfully represented general contractor in disputes arising from construction of retirement community and subsequent bankruptcy of owner.

Ms. Micklich is proud to be a Charter Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America, an invitation-only, peer-selected group of the nation's best construction lawyers, and a member of IR Global, the world’s largest exclusive professional services network.

Ms. Micklich is a trained mediator who completed 40-hours of mediation training in accordance with M.G.L. ch.233 § 23C with MWI, Boston, MA.

Ms. Micklich is admitted in the State and Federal Courts of Rhode Island and Connecticut and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Ms. Micklich is a 1999 cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2003.