Implementing Gift Cards and Loyalty Programs Internationally

Jessie Kennedy is the Director and Corporate Counsel for Marketing & Communications at Starbucks.

With more than 25 years' experience at the world’s largest franchise brand, Kristin has extensive knowledge on the legal support needed to grow businesses and franchise concepts. For companies seeking to expand domestically and internationally, she understands the issues and will examine each situation with a wide lens, assessing and managing risk, identifying problems, and providing practical legal advice designed to allow clients to implement effective solutions.

Businesses need advice on how to avoid risk, and with her background defending businesses in-house and on behalf of major insurance carriers as outside counsel, Kristin can view corporate matters from a risk assessment and mitigation perspective. Kristin has found that it is critical to not only have a risk management strategy but to proactively review and assess that strategy in light of new and constantly changing regulations.

As franchising involves more than the disclosure document, franchise and development agreements, Kristin regularly monitors changes in the laws that affect franchising, including issues associated with COVID-19, privacy, data protection, competition, and arbitration and dispute resolution. Kristin has provided legal recommendations and guidance on market entry and withdrawal, and developing legal documents, including vendor contracts that were right-sized for the target market. She has provided strategic legal guidance on a broad range of matters from technology to operations to vendor and supply chain matters.

Kristin is also a litigator with first chair jury trial experience. Through tribunals such as International Chamber of Commerce and International Center of Dispute Resolution, she has arbitrated numerous complex arbitration cases, such as disputes involving master franchise agreements and developer agreements as well as vendor and franchise agreement terminations. She has confirmed final arbitration awards and managed local counsel to file actions enforcing judgments in jurisdictions where the contracting party resides, forcing the closure of the business enterprise or ensuring that licenses to the trademarks were extinguished, among other causes of action.

Admitted to practice in the state of Connecticut and the US District Court of Connecticut.

Christian Eriksen is a Senior Counsel for Brands & Intellectual Property at Hilton Worldwide.