Barkoff, Selden Receive Rudnick Award from ABA Forum on Franchising

This posting was written by John W. Arden.

Rupert M. Barkoff and Andrew C. Selden are co-recipients of the second Lewis G. Rudnick Award for their contributions to the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising and the development of franchise law. The award was presented on October 14, during the Forum’s annual meeting in San Diego.

Barkoff, a partner in the Atlanta office of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, and Selden, a shareholder in the Minneapolis office of Briggs and Morgan, are former chairs of the Forum on Franchising and members of the group’s governing committee.

In announcing the award before the opening session of the annual meeting, Forum chair Ron Gardner noted that both recipients practiced franchise law for nearly 40 years, have been consistently recognized as outstanding practitioners, have served as leaders and active members of the Forum, and together created the Fundamentals of Franchising, a signature program used to train novices about the intricacies of franchise law. They are co-editors of the book, Fundamentals of Franchising, which is in its Third Edition.

The Rudnick Award was created last year in remembrance of Lewis Rudnick, a founding member of the Forum and its second chair, who died in January 2009. He helped establish the Franchise Law Journal, the Forum’s quarterly publication. As senior partner of Rudnick & Wolfe (currently DLA Piper), he trained several generations of some of America’s leading franchise lawyers.

The Award is intended to honor those who have made substantial contributions to the Forum and to franchise law as a discipline, while comporting themselves in accordance with Lew Rudnick’s high standards of professionalism.

The inaugural Lewis G. Rudnick Award was presented to John R.F. Baer of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. at last year’s annual meeting.

Future Leaders Awards

In addition to the Rudnick Award, the Forum bestowed the 2010 Future Leader Awards to Dawn Newton of Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley LLP in Oakland, California and Jane Edmonds of Cassels Brock in Toronto.