Professor Franks teaches Federal Taxation and Tax Research. Prior to joining the faculty at McIntire, he taught at the University of Virginia School of Law for six years (teaching Financial Accounting, Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Business Planning).  

Professor Franks retired from Baker Hughes, a General Electric company, in January 2018 after working on the successful merger of Baker Hughes and GE’s oil and gas businesses. He joined Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company with operations in more than 80 countries, in August 2012. At Baker Hughes, he led the tax planning group, which included mergers and acquisitions, cash repatriation, foreign tax credit planning, supply chain planning, and transfer pricing.

He spent 30 years working with large multinational companies to solve tax issues. Prior to joining Baker Hughes, he served as a Principal with Ernst & Young in their international tax services group in Dallas, TX, and New York City. Prior to E&Y, he served as Vice President of Global Taxes with Celanese, a multinational chemical company with significant operations across the globe.

Prior to Celanese, Professor Franks was a Partner at the law firm of Baker & McKenzie in Washington, DC, where he served a number of Fortune 500 clients in a wide range of international tax matters.

His in-house experience also includes over five years with General Electric as both international tax counsel and European tax counsel.

Early in his career, Franks also served as a tax associate at the law firm of Miller & Chevalier in Washington, DC, focusing on tax controversy matters. He is a member of the Washington, DC, and Virginia Bars and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar.