Frank comes from a Navy family. Frank’s father (Frank Sr.) was a naval officer who served for over 35 years commanding several ships and retiring as a Captain. In fact, Frank was born while his father was serving in Vietnam as the Commanding Officer of the USS ASHEVILLE (PG-84). While growing up, Frank’s family lived all over the country, wherever his father’s duty assignments took them. Frank’s mother is a nurse with a specialty in geriatric care. Frank’s mother was the Director of Nursing at several nursing homes over the course of her career.
As early as the eighth grade, Frank knew that he wanted to be a lawyer. That year, his social studies class was studying World War II and the difficult decision to use nuclear weapons to end the war. The class was given the difficult assignment of a “war crimes” trial. Harry Truman stood accused of war crimes for his decision to use the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Surprisingly, Truman had been consistently found guilty in the prior years of mock trials. Frank was given the assignment of lead counsel defending Truman. This was the early eighties, the height of the cold war and the anti-nuclear movement. The five day trial was headline news throughout New England. In the end, Harry Truman was resoundingly acquitted by the jury. Frank Julian had won his first trial and had found a vocation. Frank knew that one day he wanted to be in the courtroom, fighting against the odds.
After high school, Frank took a Naval ROTC scholarship at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. At Villanova, Frank majored in Political Science with a concentration in Arab & Islamic Studies.
Joined United States Navy
Instead of immediately going to graduate school or law school like most of his classmates, Frank joined the United States Navy. It turned out that Arabic studies would serve him well because soon after graduation, Frank found himself in the Middle East in support of Operation Desert Storm. Frank was assigned to the USS KALAMAZOO (AOR-6) as part of the John F. Kennedy Battle Group and later to the George Washington Battle Group.
