About Marcia A.
Marcia A. Franklin built a career at the intersection of public regulation and private practice. She read history at the University of Rochester, earning a B.A. in 1978, then went on to the American University Washington College of Law where she received her J.D. in 1981. Those early academic years set the stage for work that would move between federal agencies and corporate legal departments.
She entered federal service early in her career. In 1983 she served as Branch Chief in the Common Carrier Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. The role placed her in the middle of regulatory questions about telecommunications carriers at a time of change in the industry. Four years later she moved into the private sector as Senior Counsel at MCI Telecommunications Corporation, a position she began in 1987. That role kept her focused on regulatory and transactional matters tied to communications infrastructure and service providers.
Franklin shifted into firm practice in the 2000s. She worked as a lawyer at Kaplan & Greenswag, LLC beginning in 2007. By 2011 she was a senior associate at Greenswag & Associates, P.C., the firm where she is currently listed. Those moves reflect a transition from in-house and agency work to advising clients through a law firm setting.
Her licenses span both Illinois and the District of Columbia, allowing her to operate in regional and federal contexts. She holds memberships in the Illinois State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar. Locally, she maintains ties to the Chicago legal community through the Chicago Bar Association and to Northshore LAW, a regional legal organization.
Outside the office, Franklin has taken on civic responsibilities in Northbrook. She has served on the Northbrook Plan Commission and has been its chairman since 2013. Since 2019 she has been a member of the Northbrook Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. These positions involve land use, community planning and oversight of municipal public safety appointments.
Colleagues describe her as someone who moves easily between regulatory detail and municipal governance. Her background at the FCC and at MCI give her practical experience on both sides of telecommunications regulation: shaping policy at the agency level and advising clients on compliance and commercial matters.
She practices from Greenswag & Associates, P.C., and handles matters that draw on her federal regulatory experience, corporate counsel background, and municipal board service. Her current practice focuses on telecommunications regulatory issues, compliance matters, and municipal commission work.
