Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION NEWS: ABA Forum on Franchising confers Rudnick Award on W. Michael Garner, (Oct 15, 2015)
Law Firms Mentioned:Garner & Ginsburg, P.A. | Nixon Peabody LLP | Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP
Organizations Mentioned:DLA Piper | Greensfelder Hemker & Gale, PC | Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP | Mayer Brown, LLP | Nixon Peabody, LLP | Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs | Rudnick & Wolfe/Fa | W. Michael Garner, PA | Wiggin & Dana, LLP
By John W. Arden, J.D., LL.M.
Minneapolis franchise attorney W. Michael Garner was honored with the Lewis G. Rudnick Award, the ABA Forum on Franchising’s "lifetime achievement award," during the group’s 38th annual meeting today in New Orleans.
A partner and shareholder in Garner & Ginsburg, P.A., Garner is a longtime leader of the Forum on Franchising, having served on the group’s Governing Committee from 1993 to 1999 and as the editor-in-chief of the ABA Franchise Law Journal from 1988 to 1993. He is the editor of the Franchise Desk Book, a leading reference work for franchise lawyers published by the ABA.
In receiving the award, Garner said he was “flabbergasted” and “humbled” and wanted to “share the award with all of you.” He said that no other organization he has been associated with “has been so welcoming and supportive of its members.”
The Rudnick Award was created in 2009 in remembrance of Lewis Rudnick, a founding member of the Forum and its second chair. He helped establish the Franchise Law Journal, the Forum’s quarterly publication. As a senior partner of Rudnick & Wolfe (currently DLA Piper), he trained 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 Rudnick’s high standards of professionalism, decency, and collegiality.
Previous Rudnick Awards were presented to John R.F. Baer of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C; Rupert M. Barkoff of Kilpatrick Townsend; Andrew C. Selden; Judith Bailey; Lee Abrams of Mayer Brown; and Dennis E. Wieczorek of DLA Piper.
The Forum on Franchising also conferred its Rising Scholar Award on Mei Zhang; its Future Leader Award on Trishanda L. Treadwell of Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP; and its Chair’s Award for Substantial Written Work or Presentation on Keri A. McWilliams of Nixon Peabody LLP.
Forum Chair Karen Satterlee announced a new Diversity Award for substantial contribution to the diversity goals of the Forum, which will be first presented at next year’s annual meeting. She also announced awards commemorating two Forum leaders who died during the last year.
The Rising Scholar Award will be renamed the Edward (Jack) Dunham Rising Scholar Award in remembrance of Dunham, a former Chair of the Forum and longtime franchise practitioner for Wiggin & Dana. The John R.F. Baer Scholarship for International Franchise Practice, Civility, and Professionalism will be awarded for the next five years. The scholarship is named for Baer, the first Rudnick Award winner, and is being fully funded by Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., where Baer was a partner.
Attorneys: W. Michael Garner (Garner & Ginsburg, P.A.); Trishanda L. Treadwell (Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs LLP); Keri A. McWilliams (Nixon Peabody LLP)
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