About Professor Frank

With over a decade of law teaching experience, Visiting Herff Chair of Excellence & Professor Demetria Frank joined the Memphis Law faculty in June 2013. Prior to becoming the visiting Herff Chair of Excellence and Memphis Law’s inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion in 2021, she served as the Program’s Director for three years. Under Dean Frank’s leadership, Memphis Law has established an extended pipeline beginning in high school and lasting through law school graduation. 

Committed to bridging the gap between underrepresented communities and the legal system, Professor Frank’s scholarly research focusing on prisoner rights, systemic bias, and diversity in legal education has been published in the Harvard Journal for Racial and Ethnic Justice, Brooklyn Law Review, and Memphis Law Review among other publications. As a result of her commitment to justice and ongoing dedication to opportunity youth, in 2018 she was appointed by Mayor Lee Harris to the Shelby Countywide Juvenile Justice Consortium, for which she served as chair for two years ongoing dedication to opportunity youth and in 2020 was appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights Advisory Committee to serve a four-year term as a member on Tennessee’s Advisory Committee.  

Professor Frank regularly consults and speaks on issues related to diversity, inclusion, cultural competence, implicit bias, and organizational culture.  She has worked with higher education institutions, legal aid organizations, and K-12 schools in climate assessment and developing organizational strategies that increase engagement among diverse stakeholders and shift culture in positive ways.  

Professor Frank’s scholarly research focusing on prisoner rights, systemic bias, and diversity in legal education has been published in the Harvard Journal for Racial and Ethnic Justice, Brooklyn Law Review, and Memphis Law Review. She received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and began her legal career as a toxic tort litigation attorney before moving into the public sector as a Community Prosecutor in the Dallas City Attorney’s Office. Her tenure as an Associate Judge for the City of Dallas and the City of Houston has been one of the most influential experiences in her legal career.

In her capacity as a law teacher, Professor Frank teaches courses in Evidence, Federal Courts, and a Mass Incarceration Seminar. She hopes to inspire underrepresented attorneys for years to come.

Education

The University of Texas School of Law, 2005; University of Houston (cum laude).

Admitted

State Bar of Texas

Experience

University of Wyoming College of Law, Assistant Professor of Law (2011-2013), Brent Coon & Associates, PC, Litigation Manager (2009-2011); The City of Dallas, Associate Municipal Court Judge, Assistant City Attorney (2007-2009); Waters & Kraus, LLP, Associate (2005-2007)

Teaching Interests

Evidence, Federal Courts, Pretrial Litigation, Torts and Trial Practice

Publications

Prisoner-to-Public Communication, Brooklyn Law Review, 84 Brook. L. Rev. 115, Fall, 2018

MLK50: Where do We Go from Here, Co-authored with Professor Daniel Kiel, University of Memphis Law Review, Volume 49, 2018 (Essay)

The Proof is in the Prejudice: A Proposal Confronting Implicit Racial Bias in Uncharged Act Evidence, 32 Harv. J. Racial & Ethnic Just. 1, Spring, 2016

The Medical Device Federal Preemption Trilogy: Salvaging Due Process for Injured Patients, 35 S. Ill.U. L.J. 453, Winter, 2011

Implicit Bias & Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Shelby County Memphis Juvenile Court System, Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, October 2018 (Policy Paper)

Social Inequity, Cultural Reform & Diversity in the Legal Profession, 13 S. J. Pol'y & Just. 25, Fall 2019 (Policy Paper)