Riley, Krystal Elaine

James A. Goniea, a partner in the firm's Franchise and Distribution Practice Group, is resident in the firm's Philadelphia office, and has litigated on behalf of, and provided counsel for, many of the most prominent names in franchising over the past twenty years. Mr. Goniea has represented franchise clients in courts across the country and internationally on a wide variety of issues including, among others, territorial disputes, non-competition covenants, trademark disputes, system compliance, collections matters, wrongful termination and enforcement of arbitration and venue provisions.

Before joining Wiggin and Dana, Mr. Goniea served as the Vice President and General Counsel of American Driveline Systems, Inc. ("ADS"), the company that owns the AAMCO Transmissions and Cottman Transmission brands. As General Counsel of ADS, Mr. Goniea had primary responsibility for overseeing and managing all legal, regulatory and compliance matters on behalf of both brands. In addition to addressing matters relating to corporate governance and contract negotiation, Mr. Goniea served as the company's primary litigator, frequently appearing in court and trying cases on behalf of both AAMCO and Cottman. Mr. Goniea also was responsible for managing the company's Customer Relations and Consumer Affairs departments. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Goniea was a partner in the San Francisco office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now SNR Denton).

Mr. Goniea serves as the Technology Officer of the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Franchising. He has written papers and presented programs on a wide variety of franchise law issues for numerous seminars and symposia including both the ABA Forum on Franchising and the International Franchise Association Legal Symposium. Mr. Goniea is the co-author of the Chapter on "Termination, Nonrenewal and Transfer" in The Franchise Law Compliance Manual, 2^nd Edition, published by the ABA. He also has had articles concerning franchise law and practice published in Franchising World Magazine and The Franchise Lawyer. He is admitted to the Bars of New York, California and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Goniea received a B.F.A. in Drama from New York University in 1985 with Honors and a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1990 with High Honors. Between college and law school, Mr. Goniea lived for a year in China as a Princeton-In-Asia Fellow where he taught English as a second language to college and graduate level students. After graduating from law school, Mr. Goniea clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. when he was a judge on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.