The National Restaurant Association has formed a new law center to challenge regulations that "continue to negatively impact small business."

The Restaurant Law Center will provide legal advocacy on behalf of the restaurant industry to fight overregulation on a local, state and federal level, according to an NRA statement.

"The restaurant industry has been participating in legal battles on behalf of restaurant owners and employees for years," said Angelo Amador, executive director of the Restaurant Law Center. "But as these fights become more and more prevalent, we must have the legal means and an apparatus to push back against outside groups that threaten the jobs and economic growth the restaurant industry creates, as well as to protect and advance the industry."

Amador also is NRA's senior vice president and regulatory counsel. The association is the latest business group to open a legal center, with the National Association of Manufacturers opening one in 2013 and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launching its Institute for Legal Reform in 1998.

One of the first cases the Restaurant Law Center will take on is Oregon Restaurant and Lodging v. Perez, which concerns tip pooling practices. The center will file a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 19. http://bit.ly/2jbIwlD

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