Holt, Barbara

Mr. Shelley represents the firm's franchise and commercial clients in all phases of litigation, from pre-action investigation through trial and appeal. Mr. Shelley has broad experience litigating and arbitrating commercial cases, including recent cases involving franchise termination; franchise fraud; enforcement of in-term and post-term contractual restrictions in the franchise and employment settings; unfair competition; securities fraud; employment law; and breach of contract. Mr. Shelley also regularly represents the firm's clients before various federal, state and local administrative agencies. In addition to his litigation activities, Mr. Shelley is also active in the firm's transactional practice.

A graduate of the Villanova University School of Law (where he served as an editor of the Villanova Law Review), Mr. Shelley also holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of Notre Dame.

Mr. Shelley is a member of the New York State Bar Association's Franchise Law Committee, the International Franchise Association, and the American Bar Association's Forum on Franchising. He is the co-author of"Preliminary Agreements: How to Avoid Unintended Contractual Obligations," 25 Franchise Law Journal 15 (2005); "The Uncharted Boundary Between Fair Competition and Tortious Conduct," 22 Franchise Law Journal 184 (Winter 2003) and "'Control' in Franchising and the Common Law," 19 Franchise Law Journal 119 (Winter 2000). Mr. Shelley served as a contributor and panelist at the American Bar Association's 2006 Forum on Franchising; Ontario Bar Association's Second Annual Franchise Law Conference in 2002; and at the 1999 International Franchise Association Legal Roundtable, "Practical Solutions to Franchise Conflicts." Mr. Shelley also served as a contributor to the Practicing Law Institute's "Understanding Franchising Business and Legal Issues" Symposium in June, 2001, and to the American Bar Association's Franchise Desk Book (2001, revised 2007).

Mr. Shelley is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in New York and Connecticut.