Experience

Representation of Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprises

An experienced administrative lawyer and a litigator, Franklin helps businesses navigate all the intricacies of minority and disadvantaged business policies.  He assists his clients in:

• Obtaining Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) certifications from state and local governments;
• Obtaining 8(a) program certification from the Small Business Administration;
• Bid protests;
• Economic inclusion strategies to enhance private sector development project outcomes;
• MBE/WBE policy enforcement; and
• Civil rights class actions and other complex commercial litigation.

Representation of Corporations

He advises large corporations on compliance with various socio-economic policies, regulations and strategies including:

• Equal business opportunity programs;
• Commercial non-discrimination policies;
• Subcontracting goals;
• Establishing supplier diversity strategies and policies to enhance M/WBE mainstream participation in emerging markets such as medical cannabis and community solar power;
• Teaming and joint venture collaborations with small and disadvantaged businesses; and
• MBE/WBE/DBE/HUB/SBE/SLBE contract requirements.

He also facilitates joint ventures and partnerships among Fortune 500 corporations and smaller contractors and vendors to increase capacity and enhance market access among historically disadvantaged businesses.  He also conducts diversity business audits and helps large companies open up their procurement processes to new sources of supply and to promote non-discriminatory treatment of suppliers and vendors.

Representation of Governments

Franklin’s representation of dozens of government clients has brought him national recognition.  Among his many governmental clients are the Cities of Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Greensboro, NC; Palm Beach County, FL; Richland County, SC; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; and Columbia, SC.  His academic/non-profit clients include the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the School Board of Broward County, the Palm Beach County School Board, and the University of Minnesota.  He has also advised the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding proposed regulatory reforms of federal economic inclusion programs.

He has advised governmental entities on:

• Minority Women Business Enterprise (“M/WBE”) programs;
• Small Business Enterprise (“SBE”), Small Local Business Enterprise (“SLBE”), and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (“DBE”) programs;
• Linked deposit policies for financial institutions;
• ACDBE airport concessions programs;
• Capacity building initiatives;
• Centralized bidder registration systems;
• Formation and oversight of multi-jurisdictional disparity study consortiums;
• Disparity study oversight and review, and procedures for economic inclusion policy deliberation;
• Working capital lending programs;
• Bonding assistance programs;
• Supplier development programs; and
• Various public private partnership initiatives that serve "economic inclusion" and economic development objectives.

Franklin has assisted numerous governments in reforming their procurement practices and policies to make them more accessible.  Several of these reforms have involved the deployment of technologies that automate the government vendor registration and contracting processes.  He has provided detailed guidance to government clients regarding such procedures including the Metropolitan District Commission in Hartford, CT, San Diego, CA, Columbia, SC, and San Antonio, TX.

Appellate Representation

He has been involved in some of the most consequential appellate decisions concerning MBE/WBE policies around the country.  His federal appellate court experience includes:

• Supervising and drafting of appellate briefs as amicus curiae and as an intervening party in numerous constitutional challenges to federal, state, and local minority business programs (Carpenter v. Dole, Tennessee Asphalt v. Farris, Associated General Contractors v. San Francisco, Concrete Works v. City and County of Denver, and S.J. Groves v. Fulton County.); and
• Preparing briefs and pleadings in U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the constitutionality of minority business programs (J.A. Croson v. City of Richmond, Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, and Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Mineta; these cases addressed complex legal and factual issues under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment).