Professor David Franklin appointed solicitor general of Illinois

​Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has appointed Associate Professor David L. Franklin to serve as the new solicitor general in the Office of the Attorney General. Franklin will oversee more than 40 attorneys in Madigan’s Appellate Division who work on behalf of the state, its officers and agencies. The solicitor general oversees attorneys’ work in the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois Supreme Court and the federal and state appellate courts.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the exceptionally dedicated and talented staff of appellate lawyers in the attorney general’s office,” Franklin said.

At DePaul, Franklin is an associate professor of law and served as vice dean from 2011 to 2014. He also is an advisor to the American Law Institute and previously was a law professor at the University of Michigan Law School, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, and George Washington University Law School. Prior to academia, Franklin practiced as an associate at Covington & Burling LLP in New York.

Franklin clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. He received his bachelor’s degree from Yale College and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.