About Justin Christopher
Justin Christopher Strane built a practice that bridges two very different areas of law. He blends formal training in real estate with an earlier focus on intellectual property. The result is a practice that looks like a traditional real estate shop in some ways and like a small business counseling practice in others.
He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a B.A. in Political Science and Music in 2007. He then earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois - Chicago John Marshall Law School in 2010, where he studied intellectual property. He returned to John Marshall for a master of laws in real estate, completing the LL.M. in 2013.
Strane began his post-law school career in private practice. By 2015 he was a partner at Shapiro Strane, LLC, a firm that previously operated as Ansari & Shapiro. He worked there through the late 2010s and into the early 2020s, handling matters that drew on both his real estate training and his background in intellectual property.
In 2022 he started Front Door Legal LLC. The new firm reflects a streamlined approach to legal work. As founder, he manages day-to-day operations and client matters. The move to launch his own firm followed years of committee work and practice in the Chicago bar community.
His bar membership is in Illinois. That membership underpins his residential real estate work and the transactional pieces of his practice. He also takes cases and counseling assignments that benefit from his knowledge of intellectual property law, particularly where real estate projects intersect with business and creative industries.
Within the Chicago Bar Association he has been active on real estate committees. He served as co-chair of the Young Lawyers Section Real Estate Committee from 2016 to 2019. In 2022 he became co-chair of the Residential Real Estate Committee and continues in that role. Those positions have involved organizing educational programming and working on local practice issues affecting real estate practitioners.
Colleagues describe him as practical and methodical in his approach to deals and closings. He favors plain language and clear checklists over ornate briefs. He splits his time between transactional work, client counseling, and running Front Door Legal LLC. He currently concentrates on residential real estate matters and related transactional work at Front Door Legal LLC.
