Donovan Wayne Frank (born June 24, 1951) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Minnesota The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis ...

Background

Frank was born in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. It is located along rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a popul ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from Luther College in 1973 and his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Hamline University School of Law Hamline University School of Law was a private law school affiliated with Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1972 as the Midwestern School of Law by a group of legal professionals. In 1976, Midwestern School of Law w ...

in 1977.

Career

Frank began his legal career as an assistant county attorney in St. Louis County, Minnesota. In 1985, he was appointed a state district court judge in Minnesota's Sixth Judicial District. Frank served as an assistant chief judge of that court from 1988 to 1991. He was Chief Judge from 1991 to 1996.

Federal judicial service

On May 21, 1998, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated Frank to the seat on the

vacated by David S. Doty. He was confirmed on October 21, 1998 and later received his commission on October 22, 1998. He assumed senior status on October 31, 2016.

Personal life

Frank credits Judge Mitchell A. Dubow for championing disability laws:

As an assistant attorney for St. Louis County, Judge Frank tried a case before a jury that involved the first felony child sexual abuse case in the state of Minnesota in which expert testimony was allowed to explain why young children do not report sexual abuse and why mothers often support the father or the boyfriend who is accused of the abuse. The expert was allowed to testify that the child’s behavior was consistent with that of other child sexual abuse victims with whom the expert had worked. Judge Frank also handled the appeal of the case to the Minnesota Supreme Court. In ''State v. Myers'', 359 N.W.2d 604 (Minn. 1984), the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the receipt of such testimony for the first time. The decision remains the law to this day. Judge Frank credits a courageous state trial judge, Mitchell A. Dubow, for the result.

References

External links

* * Serres, Chris
"Jan. 26: Maverick judge to decide fate of sex offenders program"
''

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 census, it is the state's most populous city. Located in the state's center near the eastern border, it ...

'', September 3, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Donovan W. 1951 births Living people Hamline University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota Luther College (Iowa) alumni Minnesota state court judges People from Rochester, Minnesota United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton 20th-century Minnesota state court judges 21st-century American judges