Franklin Polk was the youngest member elected to the Cleveland School Board, the youngest president of the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, and the latter’s first delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates, where he served for 12 years. He held the longest tenure in the history of the Ohio Bar House of Delegates, serving 20 two-year terms. He founded and presided over the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys and issued a standing invitation to new attorneys to get experience in his office rent-free; these lawyers formed an ‘alumni association’ with 116 members. Each year, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation bestows the Franklin A. Polk Public Servants Merit Award to honor outstanding service to the legal profession, general public and justice system.