The DJ’s latest appellate justice profile is 5th District Justice Donald Franson’s roots run deep in Fresno legal community — A third-generation judicial officer, Justice Donald R. Franson Jr. reflects on his path to the 5th District Court of Appeal, his father’s influence and a career rooted in Fresno’s legal community.
The Fresno region abounds with multigenerational farming families, but Justice Donald R. Franson Jr. has a rarer distinction: He is a third-generation judicial officer and a second-generation justice. His maternal grandfather was the late Samuel Hollins, who served as a federal commissioner and bankruptcy referee in the 1920s and 1930s–roles that preceded modern bankruptcy judges. But it is his late father, Justice Donald R. Franson Sr., who looms over his career–literally. A large bronze bust of the elder Franson presides over a conference room steps from his son’s office.