Download Profile

John Franke became a member of the firm in January of 2009, after 21 years as a circuit judge for Milwaukee County.  His practice will include products liability and other personal injury litigation, commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense.

As a judge, Mr. Franke handled a wide range of civil and criminal cases, including intricate class actions, environmental lawsuits, complicated insurance coverage matters, products liability claims, medical malpractice cases and multi-million dollar personal injury cases.  He recently presided over City of Milwaukee vs. National Lead Industries, in which the City of Milwaukee unsuccessfully sought to recover $150 million in lead paint remediation costs.  During his judicial career, Mr. Franke presided over more than 650 jury trials, including 35 criminal homicide cases.

Before his judicial career, Mr. Franke spent 10 years with the United States Department of Justice.  As an assistant district attorney in Madison, Mr. Franke specialized in prosecuting complex white collar crime.  He also handled hundreds of land condemnation cases essential to the creation of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and the St. Croix Scenic River Way, work that led to a series of successful jury trials that earned him a special commendation from the National Park Service.

Mr. Franke then led the U.S. Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Section in Milwaukee and was in charge of all organized crime prosecutions here for five years.  He was the lead prosecutor on the Federal gambling and extortion cases against organized crime boss Frank Balistrieri and his two sons.  He successfully prosecuted the Balistrieri family and other organized crime figures from Milwaukee, Chicago and New York for racketeering and extortion. 

Mr. Franke attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.  He earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin, graduating cum laude in 1977.