Field Fisher Waterhouse won a deal and a new client advising on the setting up of The Smile Centres, the UK's first dental franchise.
Mark Abell, head of Field Fisher's franchise and licensing law group, was recommended by BDO Stoy Hayward to Dr Derek Watson, managing director of the new franchising company. The fledgling company has just two pilot dental practices so far: in Whitstable, Kent, run by Dr Watson, a former secretary general of the European Union of Dentists; and in Canterbury, Kent, run by his brother Dr Ashley Watson.
The franchise is initially aimed at independent practitioners in London and the southeast, but there are plans to expand nationally in the future, with the aim of eventually floating on AIM.
It is designed to head off the threat to independent practitioners posed by companies such as Boots, Whitecross and Specsavers, which are planning to set up their own dentist chains.
Abell said: "This is one of the most innovative and novel franchises that has been devised. It amounts to a revolution in the way that the dental profession organises itself. It is a great example of a profession taking advantage of the power of branding to fight back against the corporate big boys seeking to invade their patch."