Accruing over forty years experience in various legal practices, Melvin Franke has represented clients of all types in St. Louis and the surrounding areas.  

Beginning his career in 1972 as an Assistant Public Defender, Franke continued on to become the Public Defender for the Twentieth Judicial Circuit consisting of Franklin, Gasconade, and Osage Counties, in Missouri.  While advising as a Public Defender, Franke either drafted or supervised on three landmark decisions that - respectively - showed the unconstitutionally of Missouri’s pre-criminal code position on voluntary intoxication, changed the law on plea bargains, and authoritatively construed a Missouri statute.

Following his work as a Public Defender, Franke spent over a decade as an attorney for the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Juvenile Officer before founding Buescher & Franke, LLC, now in existence for two decades.  Franke is regarded as having a truly exceptional legal mind and continues to bring such dedication to Harvath Law Group.  

BUESCHER AND FRANKE, LLC, MANAGING MEMBER (1997 - PRESENT)

• Handles approximately thirty adoptions per year for a private agency
• Won permanent total disability case against the Second Injury Fund

20TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT JUVENILE OFFICER, ATTORNEY (1979- 1994)

• Won several terminations of parental right cases
• In one year, cleared up a backlog of ten years of termination of parental rights cases
• Changed and modernized petition forms for status, delinquency, truant and neglect cases
• Prepared delinquency, neglect and termination of parental rights petitions
• Reviewed police reports and social files, advising juvenile officers of whether to file and what to file 
• Advised on the disposition and treatment alternatives
• Consulted and negotiated with attorneys who represent children and parents before the court.
• Advised and trained Division of Family Services workers on cases and procedures and teaching the staff use of charge and statute books to help them in filing simple petitions on their own

11TH, 25TH, 32ND JUDICIAL CIRCUITS, SPECIAL ASSISTANT PUBLIC DEFENDER (1979 - 1980)

• Wrote several significant briefs on appeal, including State v Harris, 620 S.W.2d 349 (Mo En banc 1980), a constitutional challenge to the rape-shield law and a case that provided guidance on relevancy and offers of proof under the statute. 

20TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, PUBLIC DEFENDER (1975 - 1979)

• Provided quality representation to the large volume of public defender clients while at the same time administering the office, hiring and training staff and traveling the circuit for court appearances
• Drafted or advised on three significant appeals:
  • State v Hegwood, 558 S.W. 2d 378 (MO App St. L. 1977): the brief showed the unconstitutionally of Missouri’s pre-criminal code position on voluntary intoxication. The court refused to consider the issue as plain error. The case led to a proliferation of work on alcoholism and intoxication.
  • Schellert v State, 569 S.W. 2d 735 (MO En banc 1978): case changed the law on plea bargains.
  • State ex rel Hammett v McKenzie, 596 S.W. 2d 53 (MO App E.D. En Banc 1980): case of first impression on the Interstate Agreement on Detainers and authoritatively construes the statute

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, ASSISTANT PUBLIC DEFENDER (1972- 1975)

• Responsibilities included trials, preliminary hearings, briefs, motions, writs, appeals, juvenile court practice, client interviews and case preparation

LEE AND YOUNG, ATTORNEY

• Researched and drafted a “Petition in Equity to set Aside Trustee’s Sale," winning at the trial level and later working out an advantageous settlement
• Drafted a petition for a four hundred thousand dollar antitrust and unconscionable contract claim

PRIVATE PRACTICE, ATTORNEY

• Advised primarily on adoptions, civil litigation, personal injury, and workers’ compensation
• Won a large Social Security Disability claim for a private client who suffered from vascular disease and also won the rape-shield case in the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously on August 31, 1982. State v Gibson, 636 S.W. 2d 956 (Mo En banc 1982). 

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, J.D

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, B.A / B.S.

• Economics, Chemistry