Talcott J. Franklin, M.A., J.D.

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Talcott has developed evidence-based health and wellness programs for numerous public and private organizations, including the Virginia Board of Education, Loudon Public Schools, Portsmouth Public Schools, Hampton Public Schools, Salem Public Schools, Alcuin School, the Girl Scouts of America, ivivva, and the YMCA.  He recently developed a Progression Method™ program for the Albemarle County Public Schools and for Paydhealth, LLC's healthcare plan customers.  

He is the author or co-author of Self-Protection for Young Women: A Practical Guide to Recognizing, Avoiding, Escaping and Fighting Off the Most Common Threats to Females (Penobscot Publishing Co. / Apple Books 2020); Self-Protection for Young Men: A Practical Guide to Recognizing, Avoiding, Escaping and Fighting Off the Most Common Threats to Males (Penobscot Publishing Co. / Apple Books 2020); Your Transition: A Guide to Life of the Outs (Penobscot Publishing Co. 2020) (book and workbook distributed free to prisoners to help them maximize their rehabilitation opportunity);  Mortgage and Asset-Backed Securities Litigation Handbook (Thomson West 2008) (two volumes updated annually) (with Thomas F. Nealon III); Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Handbook (West 2009) (with Micah S. Green); Protecting The Brand: A Concise Guide to Promoting, Maintaining,  Protecting A Company’s Most Valuable Asset (Barricade Books 2003); and, of course, The Progression Method: The Revolutionary Method of Using Food Sequencing and Mild Post Meal Movement to Naturally Increase GLP-1 Hormone, Lower A1c, Get the Most Out of Your Food, and Reach a Healthy Weight Without Dieting (Penobscot Publishing Co. 2026). 

Buy the Progression Method™ book only on Amazon. 

In September 2023, I broke my ankle playing soccer, was laid up on the couch for weeks, and gained 15 pounds.  This was disheartening because my pants were already pretty tight before that happened, and as a pugilist and former competitive bodybuilder, I knew how miserable it is to have to lose excess weight.  But before I went back to my dreadful pre-competition diet regimen, it occurred to me that -- given I spend much of my days creating evidence-based programming -- I should do some research to see if my prior diet had empirical support.  

It did not: the studies showed short-term weight loss followed by weight re-gain, probably because that diet is worthwhile only when the alternative is being laughed off a stage wearing posing trunks or getting pummeled in a ring by a guy with a longer reach.  

But something called "food sequencing" did have impressive study results, in part because people did not have to give up their vices for it to work.  Additional research revealed the benefits of mild post-meal movement, and the seeds of a program were planted. 

I began experimenting on myself, and sure enough, that excess weight came off, even though I sacrificed nothing in terms of what I ate.  Then I asked friends to try it as well, and they got similar results.  

But I also noticed that I had more energy. I was getting more out of my workouts.  I was gaining strength and muscle mass for the first time in years instead of just maintaining. I felt better.  

That extra 15 pounds came off and then some.  Within 25 weeks I was at the weight that in the past would have taken extreme sacrifices to achieve, a weight I haven't been in decades.  And then I leveled off and have maintained that weight for going on two years, again without any sacrifices.  Plus there's no reason to stop: food tastes better and I feel better. 

Over time, I also started caring more about what I was eating.  I confess that before my research I generally viewed food as neutral.  However, what we eat and drink is rarely neutral.  It is either medicine or it is poison.  

That discovery led to the idea behind the Progression Method™ eating and movement program: a series of small changes over time that are a natural progression and work with your biology instead of radical unnatural changes that work against your biology.  

I hope you'll join me and many of my friends in trying the Progression Method™ program, and take those first steps toward a healthy weight.  Buy the Progression Method™ book only on Amazon.  

Talcott received his B.A. from the University of Washington in 1988.  During college, he was a competitive bodybuilder and power lifter and worked as a trainer for Nautilus fitness.  In 1992, he received his M.A. from the University of Washington, where he focused on quantitative research methodology, served as Research Director for a non-profit Foundation, and taught as an instructor at the University of Washington and Highline Community College.  In 1995, Talcott graduated magna cum laude from Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he was Editor in Chief of the Washington & Lee Law Review, a member of Order of the Coif, and the recipient of the Robert and Anne Banse Honor Scholarship.  

Prior to graduate school and law school, Talcott began his professional career as a Juvenile Rehabilitation Counselor-1 (JRC-1) in the maximum-security unit of a juvenile detention facility operated by the state of Washington. As part of an interventionist staff, he helped protect individuals from further victimizing each other while serving their sentences for murder, rape, armed robbery, assault, and other serious crimes. He also counseled these individuals, was involved in the successful capture of several escapees from minimum-security units, and received a letter of commendation for his efforts connected with the apprehension of 3 escapees: a convicted murderer, a convicted rapist, and a convicted armed robber. 

Following law school, Talcott represented countless survivors of sexual and physical abuse pro bono, receiving in 1997 the Mecklenburg County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program Award for Exemplary Service to the Indigent. This work also earned him the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 E. Randolph Williams award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service, and he was one of two lawyers commended for the work that earned Hunton & Williams the American Bar Association national pro bono award.

In 2002, he was the Co-Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Pro Bono Activities Committee, for which he also served as Co-Vice-Chair in 2001, where he focused the Committee’s efforts toward protecting at risk children.

Talcott served as Intellectual Property Counsel at American Airlines, Inc., where he created the now widely-imitated concept of tribute planes to preserve legacy airline brands. 

He subsequently became an equity partner, Deputy Chair of Litigation firm-wide, management committee member, and Dallas office head of litigation at Patton Boggs LLP. During his tenure, Talcott and Patton Boggs partner Micah Green, under the tutelage of the legendary Tom Boggs, pioneered the litigation / public policy dispute resolution strategy, using the judicial, administrative, and legislative branches of government to achieve enhanced dispute resolution results for clients. 

In 2010, he established one of the nation’s first virtual law offices, which grew to over 20 senior attorneys licensed in twelve states.  Talcott's creation of the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Investor Clearing House was “a milestone for investors” according to Reuters. The strategy Talcott created on behalf of the Knights of Columbus was called in the American Banker “the most novel and sensible of the litigation strategies that we have seen.”

In anticipation of an explosion of litigation involving mortgage-backed securities, Talcott co-authored Mortgage and Asset Backed Securities Litigation Handbook (West 2008, updated annually), which remains one of West’s top selling books and the recognized treatise in the field. Talcott has served as lead counsel litigating all aspects of securitized instruments, including co-lead counsel on the largest mortgage loan repurchase case in history involving 100 trusts containing 500,000 loans.

Talcott has been featured on television, radio, and print media, including CNBC, Fox, NPR, Bloomberg, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and numerous other outlets.

He currently serves as Chief Legal Officer of Paydhealth, LLC, where he also assists in new program development for Paydhealth’s healthcare plan customers, including a Progression Method™ eating and movement program.  

Buy the Progression Method™ book only on Amazon.