NZ's first franchise law book

The book, due to be published in November and launched early in December, originated from Stewart’s frustration at the lack of New Zealand-specific resources for the course that he teaches to LLB and LLB Hons students at the University of Auckland.

Stewart, who had previously taught courses in Trust Accounting for the Law Professionals, convinced the Law School at the University of Auckland to embrace the course, which has now run biennially since 2023.

Stewart is proud that he has built the course numbers up from 28 to 106 students, with even more anticipated in the 2027 intake, a popularity that he says causes some envy amongst his colleagues teaching similar courses overseas.

There is no franchise-specific legislation in New Zealand, so franchise lawyers must learn, sometimes through bitter experience, just how the general laws of commerce, contract, fair trading, intellectual property and privacy are applied within the business format franchise model context. The Franchise Association of New Zealand (of which Stewart was a founding member and a past Chair) has a members’ Code of Practice and Ethics, and this provides valuable guidance in best practice to both franchisors and the legal profession here in New Zealand, but hardly at a level that enables full understanding of all the legal complexities.

With only partially relevant resources published in the US, Australia and the UK, Stewart felt his students deserved better, and in December 2025 he received approval for a New Zealand text to be published by Thomson Reuters. The book, titled Franchise Law in New Zealand, was written quickly, finished and handed over to his editor by July this year, and includes a foreword by former High Court judge Simon Moore KC. The book covers a range of topics from an introduction to franchising as practised in New Zealand, relevant Acts and case studies, a legal perspective on franchise planning, documentation and dispute resolution, and how franchising in New Zealand fits into the patchwork of international franchise regulatory regimes. It is likely to become a valuable resource in courses teaching franchise law around the country.