William Michael “Mike” Franklin is a Colorado education law and juvenile law attorney who spent much of his career working inside public schools and state education agencies. He has served as a special education legal specialist for the Oregon Department of Education, a district special education director, a high school principal, an assistant principal, and a classroom teacher.
Admitted to practice in 1994, Mike appears most often in Colorado’s 4th and 10th Judicial Districts and has handled cases in courts across the Denver metro area.
William Michael “Mike” Franklin practices education law and juvenile law in Colorado with Flatiron Legal Advisors, PLLC. He spent years working inside public schools and a state education agency before turning that experience toward representing families in special education disputes, dependency and neglect cases, truancy proceedings, and delinquency matters.
Since his admission to the bar in 1994, Mr. Franklin has split his career between law and public education. That work includes eight years as the Special Education Legal Specialist for the Oregon Department of Education, two years as a school district special education director, four years as a high school principal, four as an assistant principal, and four teaching social studies at an alternative high school.
A 1994 graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law, he holds a B.A. from the University of Tennessee and completed teacher licensure at Regis University and principal licensure at the University of Denver. He is licensed in Colorado and holds an inactive license in Oregon.
Today his practice covers education law and juvenile law, most often in Colorado’s Fourth and Tenth Judicial Districts, though he has appeared in courts throughout the Denver metro area. Time spent on the administrative side of public education gives his clients a realistic read on how school decisions actually get made and where a district may have fallen short.
Mike sees his role as guiding clients rather than directing them, and he tells them what he believes they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. Most disputes in these cases, in his experience, come from poor communication rather than bad intent, and they resolve without extended litigation when everyone sits down in good faith.
A repeat presenter at the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators Special Education Conference, he served in the United States Army from 1986 to 1989 and volunteers with Humane Colorado.
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