Rupert Barkoff, chair of the franchise team at Kilpatrick Townsend, died June 5 at the age of 71. Barkoff joined what was then Kilpatrick & Cody in 1973 and spent his entire career at the firm establishing its franchise practice. Barkoff’s influence on the field of franchising, however, was felt well beyond his law firm, and he was considered by many to be one of the pioneers of franchise law practice.
Throughout his career, Barkoff was heavily involved with the two national legal associations devoted to franchising, namely the ABA Forum on Franchising (the Forum) and the International Franchise Association (IFA). Barkoff’s interactions with the Forum included serving on its governing committee and as one of its early chairs, as well as participating in dozens of annual Forums as a panelist or moderator. He also authored dozens of articles for the two Forum publications, the Franchise Law Journal and The Franchise Lawyer and was co-editor of one of its most successful publications Fundamentals of Franchising. He was similarly a panelist or moderator for dozens of IFA programs.