Joseph Adler has dedicated his professional life to becoming a top business lawyer. He is a senior corporate and commercial lawyer who assists clients in all matters related to their operations and transactions in Canada and a registered trade-mark agent. His particular emphasis is in franchising and distribution, intellectual property law and cross-border trade. Joseph serves as legal counsel for Canadian and US (and other foreign) franchisors doing business in Canada and Canadian franchisors doing business in the US, Europe and abroad. He also acts and has acted for various multi-unit franchisees and franchisee associations as well.

Joseph has published and has been quoted in numerous articles and has spoken on various franchising topics at venues organized by the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA), the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) and the International Franchise Association (IFA).

Recognition and Leadership in Franchising

Recognized by his peers, Joseph is:

• Secretary and General Counsel, Canadian Franchise Association
• Member, the CFA's Legal and Legislative Affairs Committe
• Director and executive member, the CFA’s Board of Directors
• A Certified Franchise Executive (a designation granted by the International Franchise Association)
  
• Contributing editor, the Franchise and Distribution Journal (Federated Press)
  
• Listed as a leading practitioner in franchise law in the:
  • Prestigious International Who's Who of Franchise Lawyers
  • Legal LEXPERT Directory
    
  • Franchise Times as a "Legal Eagle" - one of the top franchise lawyers in the United States and Canada
    
  • The National Post’s Best Lawyers in Canada (franchising)
• Canadian representative, the International Franchise Lawyers Association
  

He holds a B.A. in Mathematics as well as a B.A. in Religious Studies from York University, an LL.B. from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1990.

Lorraine Fleck is a lawyer and registered trade-mark agent who assists clients in diverse industries with advertising and marketing, contest, copyright, information technology, packaging and labeling, privacy and trade-mark law issues. Before joining Hoffer Adler LLP, Lorraine practiced at a prominent intellectual property boutique.

Lorraine has written and been quoted in a number of legal articles. She founded and publishes the IP Address® blog, which reports developments in Canadian information technology, intellectual property, marketing, packaging and labeling, and privacy law. Lorraine also manages the LinkedIn group Canadian Copyright & Trade-mark Law. Lorraine has guest lectured at her law school alma mater, Queen's University's Faculty of Law, on brand protection in social media and on the Internet. She has also been a repeat guest lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School's LL.M. program on the topic of domain names and trade-marks.

Lorraine is active in a number of Canadian and international legal organizations, including the International Trade-mark Association, where Lorraine has been a member of policy committees since 2006. She is also an executive member of the Toronto Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) (U.S.A and Canada).

Lorraine has an Hons. B.Sc. in Molecular Plant Biology and M.Sc.F. in tree pathology, both from the University of Toronto. She obtained her law degree from Queen's University. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2005.

Alfonso Nocilla is an articling student with Hoffer Adler LLP. He obtained his J.D. from Queen's University in 2010 and recently completed his LL.M. at the University of Western Ontario.