ATLANTA (February 17) – Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton announced today that four attorneys have received prestigious “Client Choice Awards USA & Canada 2016” from Lexology and the International Law Office (ILO). Since 2005, the Client Choice Awards have recognized those law firms and attorneys around the world that stand apart for the excellent client service they provide.

The following Kilpatrick Townsend attorneys were the exclusive winners for their listed states and practice areas:

• Rupert Barkoff: Georgia - Franchising
• Christopher Bussert: Georgia – Intellectual Property - Trademarks
• Thomas Franklin: Colorado – Intellectual Property - Patents
• Dennis Wilson: California – Intellectual Property - Trademarks

The Annual Client Choice Awards are the result of an extensive readership survey of ILO and Lexology in-house counsel subscribers. Clients are asked to rate individual lawyers and law firms on a wide-range of client service criteria. The results of the survey are then used to create shortlists for each work area, and candidates are invited to submit up to five referees. The research team conducts follow-up interviews and additional research. While based on thorough and coherent research, the results remain the subjective views of the Client Choice team. This year’s winners were chosen from a pool of more than 2,000 individual client assessments.

Mr. Barkoff is Chairman of the firm's Franchise Team and is resident in the firm's Atlanta office. He has been practicing franchise, distribution and corporate law since 1973. Mr. Barkoff's franchise practice emphasizes solutions to registration and structuring issues and developing individual and collective solutions to franchisor-franchisee relationship problems. During the course of his career, Mr. Barkoff has represented numerous start-up, national and regional franchisors in establishment and operation of their franchise systems.

Mr. Bussert is a Partner in the firm's Trademark & Copyright Team and is resident in the firm's Atlanta office. He has more than 30 years of experience in helping clients protect and defend their most important assets and brands. Mr. Bussert represents clients in trademark, franchise, copyright, and unfair competition litigation, including proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and in licensing and trademark clearance and prosecution matters.

Mr. Franklin is a Partner in the firm’s Electrical Engineering & Software team and is resident in the firm’s Denver office. He specializes in strong patent prosecution, brand advice, licensing, due diligence and strategic counseling for high tech and clean tech companies in the electronic, software and energy fields. Mr. Franklin uses creative IP procurement strategies with a laser focus on his client’s business goals, leveraging IP protection to help large companies maintain their dominance and assist startups as they vie to dominate.

Mr. Wilson is a Partner in the firm’s Trademark & Copyright practice and resident in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He focuses his practice on complex litigation involving trademark, copyright, entertainment and Internet law issues. Mr. Wilson represents many of the world’s largest media and technology companies creating and directing their international rights enforcement programs. He provides strategic counseling to businesses on a wide range of related issues including false advertising, idea submission, rights of publicity and unfair business practices.

About ILO
Launched in 1998, ILO is the nexus where global corporate counsel engage with the world’s pre-eminent law firms, and each other. ILO provides a multifaceted online resource for senior international corporate counsel, which provides tailored, quality-assured updates on global legal developments, a database of the world’s major deals and the legal advisers involved, and a comprehensive directory of firms and partners. Recognizing its unique relationship with global corporate counsel, many of the world’s premier associations have chosen to partner with ILO.

About Lexology
Launched in 2007, Lexology is a daily newsfeed of law firm client alerts, articles and blogs delivered to the desktops of senior business lawyers worldwide on a daily basis. Lexology has built a unique audience of over 185,000 subscribers, over 60% of whom are in-house corporate counsel representing the vast majority of Fortune 500, FT Global 500 and FT Euro 500 companies - including all members of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Follow the firm on Twitter: @KTS_Law.

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