David J. Kaufmann

David J. Kaufmann is a founding member and senior partner of New York City’s Kaufmann Gildin Robbins & Oppenheim LLP.

David - - partner-in-charge of Kaufmann Gildin’s franchise team - - is nationally acclaimed as one of America’s foremost franchise lawyers. The United States District Court for the Southern District Court of New York long ago held that “David Kaufmann is unquestionably an expert in franchise law.” The New York Times lauds David as “a lawyer in New York who has represented many of the nation’s top franchisors”. David has been featured in The Best Lawyers in America under the heading “Franchising-New York City” in every edition of that publication since its inception. He was named the inaugural “New York Area Franchise Lawyer of the Year” by New York magazine. And Franchise Times inducted David into its “Legal Eagle Hall of Fame” (as an attorney who has been dubbed a “Legal Eagle” by that publication each and every year since that honor was first awarded) and named him “one of the very best U.S. attorneys in franchising.”

David’s franchise clients include many of our nation’s and the world’s largest and most prestigious franchisors. As well, David has been asked by many of our nation’s leading investment banks, private equity concerns and law firms to assist in their franchise-related acquisitions, securitizations and financings.

David authored the New York Franchise Act (New York’s franchise statute) while serving as Special Deputy Attorney General; serves as an advisor to the organization of federal and state officials responsible for devising and coordinating franchise regulatory activity nationwide - - the NASAA (North American Securities Administrators Association) Franchise Project Group; served as a member of the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association Franchise Forum; served as Chair of the New York State Bar Association Franchise Law Committee; is the New York Law Journal’s Franchise Columnist; authors the Franchise Practice Commentary appearing in McKinney’s New York Statutes, which is routinely relied upon by federal and state courts determining franchise disputes involving the New York Franchise Act; and, authored the International Franchise Association’s treatise on franchise law, entitled An Introduction to the Law of Franchising.

David holds (and has held since 1988) the highest possible ranking accorded by our nation’s leading attorney rating firm, Martindale-Hubbell: “AV Preeminent” (“Highest Possible Peer Review Rating in Legal Ability and Ethical Standards”).

David is admitted to practice before the federal and state trial at appellate courts of New York and the United States Supreme Court, and has been admitted pro haec vice in various federal and state courts around the country.

David received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the Columbia University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree (Magna Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa) from Binghamton University.