Honorable Donovan W. Frank

In 1998, President William Clinton appointed Donovan W. Frank to be the thirty-first federal district judge in the District of Minnesota. The District of Minnesota has one of the largest patent caseloads in the United States. Currently, Judge Frank is the presiding judge in the Guidant Multi-District Litigation (MDL), which involves over 1,200 cases concerning certain types of Guidant defibrillators.

Judge Frank was born in Rochester, Minnesota on June 24, 1951. He graduated from Luther College, magna cum laude , in 1973 and attended the University of Durham, Durham, England, from 1971 to 1972. Judge Frank graduated from Hamline University Law School, magna cum laude , in 1977. In 1985, Judge Frank was appointed to the state district court bench and served as the Chief Judge of the sixteen-judge Sixth Judicial District from 1991 to 1996, prior to his appointment to the federal bench. In 1996, the Minnesota Conference of Chief Judges named Judge Frank Trial Judge of the Year. Judge Frank received the Federal Bar Association's 2006 Elaine R. “Boots” Fisher Award. Judge Frank was selected as the recipient of this award because of his outstanding public service and dedication to diversity in the legal community.

738 Federal Courts Building, 316 North Robert Street, St. Paul, MN 55101, (651) 848-1290