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Maya Pri-Tal Ohana serves as Vice President and Senior Associate General Counsel, Compliance at Flynn Group. It operates franchised restaurants and fitness locations across the United States and other markets, including beloved brands like Pizza Hut, Applebee’ s, Taco Bell, Wendy’ s, Panera Bread, Arby’ s, and Planet Fitness. Each brand operates as a separate entity, but compliance expectations must align across the business.
Before Maya joined Flynn Group, she spent ten years litigating employment matters. She took one case through trial and managed disputes from start to finish. One case became a turning point in her career.“ I was over the moon for my client,” she remembers.“ But I didn’ t get the joy from beating the other side that I think you need if you’ re going to be a lifetime litigator.
“ Litigation taught me many important lessons, and I am a better lawyer for having started out
Thorpe
Shwer is proud to partner with Maya Ohana and the Flynn Group legal team. Maya’ s passion, intellect, and integrity have positioned her as a leader in her field, and her ability to transform challenges into opportunities reflects the innovative and strategic excellence of both Maya and the Flynn Group.
BUILT ON EXPERIENCE | THORPESHWER. COM that way. But I am not a litigator at heart, not at all.” One of those lessons was staying calm under pressure.“ My first deposition was with a convicted murderer in one of the local state prisons. After that, I was never intimidated by a deponent again.”
Going in-house
Through her years of practice, Maya realized she preferred solving problems before they reached a courtroom. An opportunity to go in-house in a long-term secondment role with one of her firm’ s clients, The Regents of the University of California, gave her a glimpse into in-house practice. From there, she took another role in higher education, overseeing the office responsible for all workplace investigations at Arizona State University.
While that work was very fulfilling for her, it lacked the tactical problem-solving that she craves. Flynn Group offered that path, especially in an industry where legal guidance touches daily operations. Working in-house in the food industry means lawyers need to think like operators rather than sit in the ivory tower. Compliance decisions affect staffing levels, wages, and how shifts run. For Maya Pri-Tal Ohana, that reality defines her role at Flynn Group, where legal guidance must work at the store level without slowing service.
“ Any in-house counsel worth their salt knows that they need to dial down over-lawyering and turn up practicality to be effective,” Maya explains,“ and that’ s not always true in litigation.” That awareness shapes how Maya approaches in-house work in restaurants. She doesn’ t frame compliance in terms of legal theory. Instead, she focuses on whether guidance works for operators managing stores during busy service hours. Her team builds systems that make things easier, not harder.
“ We take things that are stressful or distracting for our operations and, ideally, we make them go away. We automate them, simplify the process, and make it impossible to get it wrong. That’ s what we strive to do every day in our roles,” she shares.
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