Hospitality Business Structures and Franchise Agreements: Ownership, Control & Legal Risk (Presented by HospitalityLawyer.com)

Stephen Barth, Founder | HospitalityLawyer.com®

Stephen Barth, author of Hospitality Law and coauthor of Restaurant Law Basics, is an attorney, the founder of HospitalityLawyer.com, the annual Hospitality Law Conference series, and the Global Travel Risk Summit Series. As a professor at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, University of Houston, he teaches courses in hospitality law and leadership. He is #3 on Global Guru’s Top 30 Hospitality Thought Leaders & Influencers for 2023. In addition to legal and travel risk mitigation insight, Stephen specializes in communicating the importance of Emotional Intelligence in leadership roles; and has provided valuable insight to many companies including The Methodist Hospital System, Wyndham Worldwide, Dine Equity, Business Travel News and Aramark. His fun, fast-paced presentations provide practical information and solutions to enhance your personal and professional life.

• Education & Credentials

He earned a B.A. in Economics, an M.A. in Communications, and a J.D. from Texas Tech University. His faculty profile also describes decades of work in hospitality law and leadership education, alongside litigation-support and expert-witness work in hospitality-related matters.

• Recognition & Leadership

He has received University of Houston teaching recognition, including the Career Teaching Excellence Award, and other teaching honors noted in his professional materials. He has also been recognized by Global Gurus in its hospitality rankings, including being listed as the #1 hospitality professional for 2022 and appearing in the 2023 and 2024 lists.

• Professional Involvement

His work includes building HospitalityLawyer.com as a platform serving hospitality lawyers and industry leaders with legal, safety, and risk-management resources. He is also associated with industry-facing conferences and summits that convene professionals around hospitality legal risk and travel risk management.

• Experience

Across more than three decades at the University of Houston’s Hilton College, his profile notes teaching and speaking activity at significant scale, including thousands of students taught, extensive publishing, and hundreds of industry presentations. His work also includes being retained in litigation contexts and contributing expertise on hospitality-related standards of care and operational risk.

Jennifer Nellany, Member | Cozen O’Connor

Jennifer Nellany is a Member at Cozen O’Connor, resident in the firm’s New York office, with nearly 25 years as a practicing attorney both as in-house counsel for public and private companies and in private practice at a full-service international law firm. Jennifer combines deep experience in real estate matters with practical corporate knowledge, assisting clients with drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements, structuring debt and equity transactions (including M&A transactions and joint ventures), advising on corporate governance matters, drafting compliance materials, and advising on domestic and cross-border legal and regulatory issues. She has extensive experience providing legal advice on hospitality-related matters, both as in-house counsel and in private practice.

• Education & Credentials

Jennifer earned her B.S. in accounting from the University of Delaware in 1992, her J.D. with a Tax Honors Certificate from Rutgers University School of Law in 1996, and her LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law in 2000. She is admitted to the New York Bar.

• Recognition & Leadership

Jennifer was quoted in a March 2026 CNBC article discussing the rise in ultra-wealthy family offices purchasing U.S. real estate as traditional investors remain cautious amid high interest rates and global uncertainty. Her April 2024 arrival at Cozen O’Connor was announced as a major addition to the firm’s Real Estate Group, where she joined as the fifth major addition to the group that year. She is passionate about fundraising and advocating for sarcoma research and awareness, having previously served as president of the board of directors of the Sarcoma Alliance.

• Professional Involvement

Jennifer is a member of the New York Bar Association and currently sits on the board of the Sarcoma Foundation of America. Her practice areas at Cozen O’Connor include Real Estate Joint Ventures, Real Estate Acquisitions & Dispositions, Real Estate Development, and Fund Formation, with a focus on the Hospitality industry sector. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, with recent and upcoming engagements including The Hospitality Law Conference – Houston 2026 (where she will speak on two panels), The Quest for Creating and Managing Effective Outside Counsel Relationships (Philadelphia, October 2025), The Hospitality Law Conference – Washington D.C. 2025 (Arlington, September 2025), the Family Office Formation and Structure Panel (Denver, September 2025), The Hospitality Law Conference – Houston 2025, the Family Office Real Estate Investment Breakfast 2025 (New York), and Alternative Risk Strategies for Real Estate and Hospitality Owners: Insights, Program Design Considerations, and Placement.

• Experience

Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor, Jennifer served as general counsel for a national diversified real estate owner, developer, and operator, where she was responsible for all legal matters at the company, including managing the company’s litigation portfolio. Before that, she was the general counsel and chief compliance officer for a privately held real estate and investment company, where she oversaw legal and compliance matters for multiple business lines and launched the company’s first third-party fund, and she has also provided legal services to the family office function at both organizations. Additionally, Jennifer served as the general counsel for a public hotel company, where she was an integral part of the acquisition and transition of a significant expansion asset for the company, and as global general counsel and secretary for the world’s largest independent provider of directory assistance, where she managed a patent and trademark portfolio, managed significant domestic and European patent litigation matters, and successfully consummated several acquisitions during her tenure. Jennifer began her career as a financial analyst and senior tax consultant, and after law school, she spent eight years as an associate with an Am Law 100 firm concentrating on corporate law, including real estate matters.

SESSION 1 – Outline of Hospitality Business Structures and Ownership Models | 12:00pm – 12:20pm

Attorneys examine the legal foundations of hospitality business structures and ownership models, exploring how different arrangements shape operational control, liability exposure, and compliance obligations across hotel properties and hospitality ventures.

SESSION 2 – Franchise Agreements: Rights, Obligations, and Operational Control | 12:20pm – 12:40pm

Counsel explore franchise agreement provisions governing rights, obligations, and operational control, gaining practical insight into how these contracts allocate authority, define brand standards, and shape the franchisor-franchisee relationship in hospitality.

SESSION 3 – Franchise Disclosure Documents and Regulatory Compliance Requirements | 12:40pm – 1:00pm

Participants review Franchise Disclosure Documents and regulatory compliance requirements, learning how to evaluate FDDs, identify material disclosures, and advise clients on federal and state franchise registration obligations applicable to hospitality operators.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 4 – Key Risk Areas in Franchisor–Franchisee Relationships and Negotiations | 1:10pm – 1:40pm

Counsel identify key risk areas in franchisor-franchisee relationships and examine contract negotiation strategies, gaining practical tools to address liability exposure, termination provisions, and disputed terms that frequently arise in hospitality franchise arrangements.