ATLANTA (December 18) – Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton announced today that attorneys Rupert Barkoff and Chris Bussert earned recognition in the prestigious 2015 International Who’s Who of Franchise Lawyers as two of the best franchise attorneys in the world. Mr. Barkoff was also selected as one of the top six “Most Highly Regarded” franchise lawyers in North America.

Since 1996, Who's Who Legal has identified the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law. Published by Law Business Research, the book contains Who’s Who Legal’s current assessment of exactly who are the very best legal practitioners. This peer-nominated distinction is based upon a comprehensive and independent survey of both general counsel and private practice attorneys worldwide. For more information about Who’s Who Legal, please click here.

Mr. Barkoff has been practicing franchise, distribution and corporate law for over 40 years. His franchise practice emphasizes solutions to registration and structuring issues and developing individual and collective solutions to franchisor-franchisee relationship problems. Mr. Barkoff was recognized as one of the country’s leading franchise attorneys by The Best Lawyers in America® in 2016 and the 15 years immediately preceding. He was also selected as the Best Lawyers’ 2016 Atlanta Franchise Law “Lawyer of the Year.” Chambers Global 2015 named Mr. Barkoff one of the leading practitioners for franchising globally. Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business ranked Mr. Barkoff as one of only nine attorneys ranked “Band 1” domestically. In 2010, he received the prestigious Lew Rudnick Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Bar Association's Forum on Franchising.

Mr. Bussert has more than 30 years of experience in helping clients protect and defend their most important assets and brands. He represents clients in trademark, copyright, unfair competition, and franchise litigation, including proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and in licensing and trademark clearance and prosecution matters. Mr. Bussert is a former Editor-in-Chief of the Franchise Law Journal and currently serves on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Franchising. He was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for Franchise Law, Intellectual Property Litigation and Trademark Law in 2016 and the nine years immediately preceding. Mr. Bussert was also selected as the Best Lawyers’ 2015 Atlanta Franchise Law “Lawyer of the Year.” He was listed in “The Trademark Experts’ Experts” by World Trademark Review, and was selected in World Trademark Review's inaugural guide to the top 1,000 trademark practitioners in the world. In 2010 and 2015, Mr. Bussert was named a "Legal Eagle" by Franchise Times.

Kilpatrick Townsend’s Franchise Team, chaired by Mr. Barkoff, was rated nationally in franchising in the annual survey issued by U.S. News - Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” and was one of only two Tier 1 firms in franchising in the Atlanta market. The 2015 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business also ranked the firm’s franchise practice nationally.

For more information about Kilpatrick Townsend, please visit: www.kilpatricktownsend.com.

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