About Ed
Ed Kraus has built a career that moves easily between the courtroom, the classroom and public policy. He earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Those credentials set the stage for a mix of public interest work, litigation and teaching.
Early in his career Kraus served as policy director at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in 1996. He later worked as a staff attorney for Legal Action of Wisconsin, representing low-income clients and handling a range of civil legal matters. He also spent time as a civil litigation and class action attorney at Plokin, Jacobs & Orlofksy, Ltd., where he litigated complex matters on behalf of groups and individual claimants. He has maintained an affiliation with Illinois Institute of Technology during his professional life.
His work has also included roles on federal advisory bodies. From 2011 to 2015 he served on the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, participating in discussions about compensation programs and administrative processes. That stint added an administrative law and policy dimension to his background and exposed him to how federal programs intersect with individual claims.
In 2022 Kraus took on dual roles that reflect his hybrid career. He became managing partner of Kraus Law Group, LLC, steering a small firm while continuing to handle litigation. In the same year he joined the faculty at Chicago-Kent College of Law as a professor, teaching law students and supervising practical skills training. The combination of practice leadership and teaching allows him to bring classroom theory and real-world procedure into conversation.
Colleagues and clients see a lawyer who moves comfortably between different legal settings. His experience in legal aid informs how he approaches client intake and case strategy. His time in class action practice has given him familiarity with complex procedural rules and multi-party litigation dynamics. And his policy work has exposed him to administrative structures and federal program design.
Kraus is admitted to practice in Illinois and divides his time between teaching responsibilities and firm management. He currently focuses his practice on civil litigation and class actions at Kraus Law Group, LLC.
