Gray Plant Mooty

Gray Plant Mooty

Gray Plant Mooty traces its origins to 1866, when it was founded in Minneapolis as a general practice serving the Upper Midwest's growing commercial base. CEO John Krenn now presides over a firm with additional offices in St. Cloud, Washington, D.C., and Fargo, and a lawyer headcount that places it among the largest law firms in Minnesota. The firm's identity is inseparable from the economic history of the region, having grown alongside the grain exchanges, railroads, and manufacturing companies that built the Twin Cities. The firm's defining practice is its Franchise & Distribution group, widely regarded as a market leader nationally. Its lawyers handle the full lifecycle for franchisors — structuring franchise agreements, managing system-wide disputes, and navigating the Federal Trade Commission's Franchise Rule. Client relationships span quick-service restaurants, hospitality, and retail, with the firm having historically represented or advised major brands including McDonald's Corporation, Supercuts, and numerous emerging franchise concepts. The practice extends beyond transactional work into complex litigation, often defending franchisors in class actions over pricing disclosure, territory encroachment, and vicarious liability claims. Beyond franchise law, the firm maintains substantial litigation, intellectual property, and corporate practices, with a regional footprint concentrated in the Upper Midwest and a D.C. office that serves regulatory and national litigation needs. Collective Law Group reports the firm maintained approximately 160 lawyers in 2024. The franchise practice alone places it in a concentrated tier, where perhaps a half-dozen firms nationally are recognized as dominant. June 2024: Gray Plant Mooty announced it elected attorney Brian Schnell as President, while Krenn continued as CEO and board chair, signaling a deliberate separation of governance and operational leadership. The appointment marked a structured leadership transition, with Schnell, a longtime franchise attorney, stepping into a role that oversees daily management. The firm's structural differentiator is the sheer concentration of franchise expertise inside a midsize, single-office-culture firm — rather than a massive general-service firm with a franchise sideline. This creates a capacity to handle the total legal architecture for a franchise brand, from initial FDD drafting to system-wide dispute resolution, without the interlocker conflicts that arise at larger diversified firms representing both franchisors and suppliers.