James W Kraus

JAMES W. KRAUS is the past Co-Chair of the Government Enforcement, Compliance, and White Collar Litigation Practice Group. He is also a member of the firm's Health Care Practice Group. Mr. Kraus concentrates his practice in the areas of white collar criminal defense, government enforcement, internal investigations, health care litigation and financial services litigation.

Mr. Kraus previously served as a JAG criminal prosecutor with the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division. He later served as environmental litigation counsel for the Department of the Army in Washington, DC. After leaving active duty, he continued service in the Army Reserve until 2000, reaching the rank of Major.

He has extensive trial experience in a broad range of substantive legal areas. He has also conducted numerous internal investigations, including investigations for governmental organizations and publicly traded companies. In addition, Mr. Kraus has substantial experience in representing clients before both state and federal grand juries.

Mr. Kraus has taken cases to trial 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. Mr. Kraus handled environmental litigation and regulatory enforcement matters. In addition to his work in the courtroom, Mr. Kraus has represented clients in response to investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other government agencies.

Examples of results recently achieved in such matters by Mr. Kraus include an outright dismissals of federal indictments in two separate cases, defense awards in two FINRA securities matters, defense verdicts in health care liability jury trials, and reversal of a criminal conviction on appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals (vacating a ten year prison sentence). He has also recently obtained substantial downward departures under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines in several federal criminal matters.

Mr. Kraus began his career with the Hershey, PA, law firm of Clark & Clough, P.C., under the mentorship of current Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge, Lawrence F. Clark, Jr.

Mr. Kraus is the Immediate Past Chair of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) Government Enforcement and Corporate Compliance Committee (GECC), and now serves as Chair of the GECC's Online Community. In addition, Mr. Kraus 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 has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in the area of Criminal Defense: White Collar in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Mr. Kraus serves as an adjunct professor in Carlow University's Forensic Accounting program. He also has served as a guest lecturer in Carlow’s Fraud and Forensics Master's Degree program. This includes consultation in curriculum development and lectures on various subjects relating to criminal and civil fraud litigation.

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 now serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Non-Profit Resources.