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Jim Rubinger - Falls Church, VA
3120 Fairview Park DriveSuite 420 Falls Church, VA 22042
Plave Koch PLC
Falls Church Franchising Lawyer
Overview
Jim brings over three decades of franchise litigation, arbitration, and mediation experience to Plave Koch. Jim's resume includes some of the most significant cases in franchising.
Jim specializes in franchise and trademark litigation. He has litigated, and won, cases in trial and appellate courts, as well as arbitration, across the country and internationally. He has represented franchisors and manufacturers in a wide variety of contract, business tort, antitrust, trademark, and state statutory cases. He also counsels franchisors on the operation of multiple and competing brands, anti-trust issues, trademark law and franchise termination disputes and distribution issues.
Jim served as a judicial clerk for the Hon. J. Clifford Wallace on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Diego, CA. Jim has written on a variety of issues relating to franchise litigation, and has presented at the International Franchise Association Convention and Legal Symposium, and at the ABA Forum on Franchising.
About Jim Rubinger
Current Employment Position(s)
- Partner
Practice Areas
- Franchising
- Litigation & Dispute Resolution
- Trademarks & Unfair Competition
- Distribution & Supply Chain
Litigation
- 100%
Qualifications
Bar Admissions
- Virginia Supreme Court
- N.Y. Court of Appeals
- District of Columbia Court of Appeals
- U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court Western District of New York
- U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
Other Affiliations
- American Bar Association (Forum on Franchising, Litigation, Antitrust, and IP sections)
- Virginia State Bar
- New York State Bar Association
- Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Classes and Seminars
- FTC Proposes to Ban Enforcement of Non-Compete Clauses in Current and Future Employment Contracts, January 2023
- Legal Ethics in Counseling Franchise Systems in Crisis, May 2019
- Operating a Franchise System With Multiple Brands: Issues and Best Practices, November 2014
- Legal Aspects of Selling and Buying: May Seller Restrict the Prices at Which Buyer Resells? (Third Edition), 2014
- Expansion, Encroachment, Impact and Cannibalization, May 2008
- Operation of Competing Brands Upheld Again, September 2005
- Representing Franchise Clients in the Post-Enron World, October 7, 2004
- Using the Lanham Act to Combat Foreign Trademark Piracy, May 2001
- The Role of Technology in Tactical Execution, February 2001
- Mergers and Acquisitions of Franchise Companies, May 1999
- Acquiring and Operating Multiple Franchise Systems, March 1999
Education
- George Washington University National Law Center, Washington, District of Columbia
J.D.
Honors: Order of the Coif
Honors: with high honors
Honors: Editor in Chief, The George Washington Law Review, Vol. 48 - Brown University
B.A.
Fees
Accepts Credit Cards
Office Information
Address
3120 Fairview Park DriveSuite 420 Falls Church, VA 22042
Phone
Fax
- 703-774-1201
Websites
Achievements
Honors
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in America® – Franchise Law 2025
- Recommended, Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal), 2025
- 2023 American Lawyer Top Rated Litigator
- International Who’s Who
- Who’s Who Legal, Global Leader
- Super Lawyers
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