Robert C. Lesan, III

Rob Lesan co-leads the firm’s Business Representation & Transactions Group, bringing extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions, private equity investment, divestitures, joint ventures, and general corporate governance. His practice includes both public and private sector transactions, with a particular focus on complex carve-outs and co-investments.

In the area of franchise law, Rob skillfully navigates franchisors and franchisees through compliance with the FTC Franchise Rule and state-specific franchise disclosure, termination, and related regulations.

Additionally, Rob is a recognized leader in technology transactions. He represents numerous technology focused clients and cloud service providers, negotiating critical technology contracts and orchestrating major technology transactions that drive industry innovation and growth.  He also co-chairs the firm’s Cybersecurity & Privacy Team, providing strategic advice on a range of technology transactions from traditional software licensing to the structuring of sophisticated cloud services offerings.

Rob’s role extends beyond transactional and technology matters as he frequently serves in an “outside general counsel” capacity to key firm clients, including portfolio companies involved in private equity investments, where he delivers insightful guidance on day-to-day compliance matters, negotiation and drafting of operational contracts, and corporate restructuring.

What was your first job?
My parents owned Hallmark and American Greetings card and gift stores when I was growing up, and I started working there part-time when I was 12. It was a good experience in customer service and I can still hear my dad coaching me on the way to work with his favorite bit of wisdom: “the customer is always right.”

When I was 15 I somehow convinced my parents to help me start an Internet Service Provider Business. This was in the early days of the Internet, when the only way to get online was through a dial-up connection. We started with four phone lines in a basement office and grew to 120 phone lines in a small office. I was responsible for keeping the network running as well as customer support (after school, of course). We ended up with a few full time employees that were willing to report to a high school student and grew to several thousand customers. Needless to say it was a fantastic learning experience and certainly quite humbling to have parents willing to take that kind of risk on what started as a product of my overactive imagination.

How did you meet your significant other?
Holly and I met at BYU Law School. She had travelled the world and finished a graduate degree from Columbia in Medieval History. I had just returned from a two-year church mission to Hong Kong. We ended up in the same “small section” which just meant that we had every class together for the first year. It was fortuitous, as it gave me plenty of time to try to catch her eye! I’m not sure it was love at first sight for her (who can blame her?) but eventually I grew on her. I’m glad she was willing to follow me home to Cincinnati, and now we’ve got four kids that are all born and raised in Ohio.

Where would we find you on a typical Saturday/Sunday?
Saturday is the one day a week I have to get all of the home chores done. It generally starts with a long bike ride down the Loveland Trail, followed by some combination of house cleaning, yard work, or whatever project my wife has come up with for me. 

Sunday may be the busiest day of the week, as for the last three years I have served in a volunteer leadership position in the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve got responsibility for seven congregations on the eastern side of Cincinnati all the way out to Maysville, Kentucky. It is something of a part-time job, as it can take anywhere from 30-40 hours a week, and typically all day on Sunday. I’ll often have some combination of meetings starting from early in the morning and ending in the early evening. It’s a labor of love, but it isn’t unusual to see me dragging a bit on Monday morning.