For the last 15 years, our own Joe Goode has been an active member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Franchising. Celebrating its 47th year, the Forum strives to be the preeminent group for the study and discussion of franchise and distribution law.
During his tenure with the Forum, Joe has been a frequent contributor to its serial publications, including the peer-reviewed Franchise Law Journal and the Franchise Lawyer, the Forum’s newsletter. He has also written and presented papers at annual Forum workshops on myriad franchise law topics and co-authored the chapter on Franchise Litigation (with W. Michael Garner) in the 2023 Forum book Representing Franchisees. Joe has also served on the organization’s Publications Committee, which has overseen the creation and publication of more than eighteen books on franchising and distribution law used by practitioners worldwide.
Most notably, over the last year, Joe worked with Forum colleague Eleanor Vaida Gerhards of Philadelphia’s Fox Rothschild to write Annual Franchise and Distribution Law Developments (2024), a 400-page legal compendium of recent legal developments in franchise and distribution law around the United States. Joe and Elle presented the book at a plenary session of the Forum’s annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona on October 16-19, 2024. The creation and presentation of Annual Developments is a signature part of every Forum on Franchising.
Keeping up with the adage that, “if you want something done, ask a busy person,” the Forum’s 900-plus members elected Joe to the organization’s Governing Committee while in Phoenix. Laffey, Leitner & Goode Partner Mark M. Leitner, himself a Forum member, said, ‘‘This is a great honor – it recognizes Joe for the hard work and dedication he has put in for over fifteen years on the Forum’s publications, presentations, and projects. I am proud to be Joe’s friend and fellow founding partner of LLG.”
Joe’s hard-won courtroom experience and expertise in litigating trade channel disputes has given him real-world experience that he leans into for the benefit of the Forum and its members. Please congratulate Joe on his election to the ABA Forum on Franchising Governing Committee and for a job well done.
Opened in August 2016, Milwaukee’s Laffey, Leitner and Goode LLC is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Litigation Boutique with a nationwide practice at home in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Among other things LLG represents clients in complex commercial litigation and catastrophic tort/injury defense litigation.
