Pietragallo Bosick & Gordon LLP

James W. Kraus

JAMES W. KRAUS is a partner with Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, and Co-chair of the Risk Management Practice Group. Mr. Kraus concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, complex risk management, white collar criminal defense, and professional liability litigation.

Mr. Kraus previously served as a JAG criminal prosecutor with the U.S. Army’s 4^th Infantry Division.  He later served as that Unit’s Operational and International Law Officer.  After leaving active duty, he continued service in the Army Reserve, reaching the rank of Major.

He has extensive trial experience in a broad range of substantive legal areas.  Over the past five years alone, Mr. Kraus has gone to trial nearly 25 times in a wide variety of complex matters, including health care litigation, securities matters, preliminary injunction proceedings and criminal trials in both state and federal court.  During this same period of time, Mr. Kraus has handled numerous appeals in both state and federal court, including the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Kraus is a member of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) where he serves on the Corporate Integrity and White Collar Crime Committee.  He also serves on the Editorial Board for that committee’s newsletter.  He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL) and the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA).  Mr. Kraus currently serves on the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Criminal Justice Section, as well as on the Criminal Law Sections for the Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Bar Associations.  Mr. Kraus is a member of the Civil Litigation and Individual Rights Sections of the District of Columbia Bar Association.

Mr. Kraus is also active in the community.  He previously served as an elected city council member for the City of Butler where he was the Director of Public Safety.  He also served as a member of the City of Butler’s Parking Authority, and currently represents the City of Butler on the Butler Area Multi-Municipal Plan Steering Committee.

Mr. Kraus received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law and his B.A. from Washington and Jefferson College.

He is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Ohio and West Virginia, as well as all of the federal courts in those respective jurisdictions.