_{The world of franchise lawyers is small, but eagle-eyed.}

Not everyone is cribbing from ChatGPT - a partner has been accused of keeping it old school and simply plagiarising another solicitor's work.

On 7 July 2025, Geoff Karikari published a piece on the website of his firm at the time, RFB Legal, reviewing the potential impact on franchising law of an upcoming case, APK Communications Ltd & Others v Vodafone Ltd.

A source said it looked as if he may have engaged in a bit of unofficial franchising himself. “This lawyer has completely lifted Stephen Sidkin's (Fox Williams) article on Vodafone litigation and passed it off as his own”, they alleged.

Every lawyer’s trusted aid, track changes, does reveal remarkable similarities between Karikari’s article and Sidkin’s, which was published a couple of weeks earlier on 26 June 2025.

However, a spokesperson for Geoff Karikari told RollOnFriday, "Mr Karikari strongly refutes any suggestion that he intentionally plagiarised material".

"As part of his role at RFB, he was asked by the firm’s marketing department to produce regular articles and website copy, which were subsequently subject to editing and search-engine optimisation after submission. He was not always involved in every stage of the editing process, and did not have final editorial control over what was uploaded or when. He does not believe the final version of the article was the initial draft he prepared for publication".

Karikari’s introduction is his own, but the passages which follow are the same as Sidkin’s with minor tweaks:

By the end, the two pieces become identical:

Afsheen Nasr, the Managing Partner of RFB Legal, told RollOnFriday, “The firm was not aware of this. Geoffrey Karikari was employed as a Senior Associate and head of our corporate/commercial department when his article was published. He is no longer employed by our firm and we have taken steps to remove this article from our website and any other publications”.

Fox Williams declined to comment.

KariKari's spokesperson said, "Mr Karikari sincerely regrets not exercising greater oversight to ensure the final version met the professional standards expected of him and has written to Stephen Sidkin and Fox Williams to apologise for any harm caused".

Karikari’s former firm had its own issues with passing off. Ackroyd Legal was initially called Stirling Ackroyd Legal, until Stirling Ackroyd Group took legal action complaining that the new business was using its brand without consent. It obtained two High Court orders compelling Ackroyd Legal to comply with the terms of a settlement agreement.

_Hmm.

Karikari wouldn't be the first lawyer accused of engaging in the sincerest form of flattery. A Withers associate had to leave the firm last year after she failed to disclose that her university had punished her for plagiarism, and in 2022 a trial had to be reheard because the judge nicked the ruling from the claimant. In 2022 a legal recruiter denied being a copycat, while back in 2017 a womble was at it and a firm admitted it was a serial offender.

A tale of two franchises by RollOnFriday 

This story was updated on 15 October 2025 to incorporate Karikari's spokeperson's comments.