Located on the north side of Houston and wondering if anyone can recommend a local attorney (bonus points if it's an Aggie) to review a franchise agreement.

TIA

ChatGPT! Kidding, kinda. I'd upload it and ask it to analyze from the perspective of the franchisee just to see what it says. That will also give you specific questions to ask the attorney.

I'm a civil litigation attorney in Georgia and do that routinely now. My partners who do transactional/contract work aren't that tech savvy and they now come to me and ask me to run it through it just to see what it says. It's pretty good, but you definitely want a good attorney to review it too.

We also have Westlaw A.I.too, so that is a little more thorough than ChatGPT.

As an example, my law firm represents the local Water Sewer Authority. I am on a river/reservoir in the county. They are raising the reservoir by 35 feet and I'm going to lose 4 acres they have to pay me for. WSA had an appraiser, and I had an appraiser. As you would expect, they were quite different valuations.

I uploaded all the appraisals and then both appraisers' criticisms of the other and asked ChatGPT to analyze all of it. It thought for over six minutes which is really long for A.I. It came up with some really good arguments that I am using to increase the valuations. It also did pretty technical analysis of the appraisals. I can't really fight them in court because of the political situation, my firm, our client etc. and I am friends with a lot of the guys in the WSA.

Much of it is stuff I had thought of, like why is their appraiser using comps from 75 miles away, but it also helped me focus on things I hadn't really thought of.

I'm an Aggie and have an office in the Woodlands. Ill have one of my TX licensed colleagues do the review. Id be happy to help.

Daniel.garcia@steptoe-johnson.com

Bobaloo said:

---

If you haven't already done so, I strongly recommend you contact as many current and former franchisees as possible prior to signing the agreement. Truly do the necessary legwork. These things can be an absolute nightmare.

---

Appreciate the feedback. We are taking the due diligence process very seriously, including talking to current and former franchisees.

GeorgiAg said:

---

As an example, my law firm represents the local Water Sewer Authority. I am on a river/reservoir in the county. They are raising the reservoir by 35 feet and I'm going to lose 4 acres they have to pay me for. WSA had an appraiser, and I had an appraiser. As you would expect, they were quite different valuations.

I uploaded all the appraisals and then both appraisers' criticisms of the other and asked ChatGPT to analyze all of it. It thought for over six minutes which is really long for A.I. It came up with some really good arguments that I am using to increase the valuations. It also did pretty technical analysis of the appraisals. I can't really fight them in court because of the political situation, my firm, our client etc. and I am friends with a lot of the guys in the WSA.

Much of it is stuff I had thought of, like why is their appraiser using comps from 75 miles away, but it also helped me focus on things I hadn't really thought of.

---

I'll definitely be running the agreement through ChatGPT just to see what it says.

Talon2DSO said:

---

I'm an Aggie and have an office in the Woodlands. Ill have one of my TX licensed colleagues do the review. Id be happy to help.

Daniel.garcia@steptoe-johnson.com

---

Thanks! I'll shoot you an email when the time comes.

Just be sure to get an attorney too - I know you are, but for anyone else reading, A.I. sometimes has hallucinations that are inaccurate or completely fabricated.

cbminers said:

---

Talon2DSO said:

---

I'm an Aggie and have an office in the Woodlands. Ill have one of my TX licensed colleagues do the review. Id be happy to help.

Daniel.garcia@steptoe-johnson.com

---

Thanks! I'll shoot you an email when the time comes.

---

Whenever youre ready. Happy to do a call with you to at least give you some comfort level before engaging.

So when do lawyer rates come down now that ChatGPT is smarter and more effective in building a case?