Sense of service
by David DeKunder
Whether representing service members before an Administrative Separation Board or professional licensees before state boards, Franklin Hopkins (J.D. ’07) prefers serving as an advocate for those who need representation in the legal system.
“I like representing individuals as my clients because I think the practice of law is a people-based business,” Hopkins said. “In many cases, you are all they have advocating on their behalf.”
Hopkins utilizes his legal knowledge and skills to represent both civilian and military clients. As a principal attorney at Germer Beaman and Brown PLLC in Austin, he is board-certified in administrative law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, representing various professional licensees before state and federal agencies.
His practice primarily focuses on health care related licenses, including representing physicians before the Texas Medical Board, a state agency where Hopkins was previously a staff attorney.
“Because of my experience at the Texas Medical Board, I have insight into the way the board views its responsibilities and the posture they take in various enforcement actions,” he said. “As a Medical Board Attorney, I can provide highly individualized advice to my physician clients.”
“At St. Mary’s, I gained a wider understanding of duty of service.”
— Franklin Hopkins (J.D. ’07)
For the last 17 years, Hopkins has served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, Texas Army National Guard and the Wyoming Army National Guard. He served in Iraq as a prosecutor, at Fort Hood as a trial counsel and at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, where he was the Chief of Military Justice for the Army Medical Department Center and School. As a Major, he serves as Trial Defense Services Counsel with the Wyoming Army National Guard.
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Government and History, he entered the St. Mary’s University School of Law in 2004. Hopkins said the professors, staff members and administrators instilled in him the duty of serving others as an attorney.
“At St. Mary’s, I gained a wider understanding of duty of service,” Hopkins said. “Service could be service to country in the JAG Corps, pro bono service to those in need, and service to those in prison. St. Mary’s Law taught students to have a sense of duty to serve others by being blessed with a law license.”
During his time in law school, Hopkins made connections with two faculty members who had served in the JAG Corps: Professor Emeritus of Law David Schlueter, J.D., and Professor of Law Jeffrey Addicott, J.D., S.J.D. Hopkins said both professors were mentors to him, and they supported him through the JAG Corps application process and wrote him letters of recommendation.
Hopkins was a research assistant both for Schlueter and for the St. Mary’s Center for Terrorism Law, which existed from 2003 to 2018, assisting Addicott in researching legal issues associated with the global war on terrorism. Addicott was the center’s co-founder and director. Addicott now oversees the Warrior Defense Project at St. Mary’s Law, providing legal assistance to service members while studying legal and policy issues.
“Hopkins worked hard and that’s important, and his work products were always sterling and spot on,” Addicott said. “He had a very high level of intelligence. Those skills have obviously carried him far in his professional life. He had a sense of service to his community,” Addicott added.
When reflecting upon his time at St. Mary’s Law, Hopkins summed up his experience: “One of the best decisions I made in my life.”
