BIOGRAPHY AND EXPERIENCE

Berkeley Law, University of California Boalt Hall

J.D. and Environmental Law Certificate, 1995

University of California, Berkeley

B.A. with high honors, 1992

Mr. Kracov is a Thomson Reuters California Super Lawyer, limited to the top 5 percent of lawyers.  He comprehensively trained in “Mediating the Litigated Case” at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.  He is on the U.S. District Court Central District of California Mediation Panel, serves as settlement officer in the Los Angeles Superior Court Resolve Law Mandatory Settlement Conference Program and is a courthouse mediator for the Center on Conflict Resolution. 

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Mr. Kracov has represented plaintiffs, defendants and the government—experience that perfectly situates him to mediate complex civil disputes.  He previously served as a Deputy Los Angeles City Attorney in the Real Property Division where he counseled the Departments of Planning and Sanitation on public works and real estate projects and successfully defended the City in hard-fought trials.  He was on the team that negotiated the $168 million settlement to remove trash from the Los Angeles River and advised the City’s property redevelopment program. He also led civil prosecutions in the City Attorney's Environmental Protection Department.

Before his public sector work, Mr. Kracov practiced at Rose, Klein & Marias LLP, a plaintiff’s trial law firm.  There he handled toxic tort and personal injury matters that helped shape these areas of the law.  Mr. Kracov started his legal career at the prominent Los Angeles firm Weston, Benshoof LLP (now Alston & Bird LLP), where his practice involved toxic tort defense for Fortune 500 clients in product liability, mass tort and environmental contamination cases.

Mr. Kracov is the former Chair of the California Lawyers Association Environmental Law Section Executive Committee.  In that role, he led education and program activities on behalf of the Section's 2,500+ lawyer members with an authoritative yet approachable temperament.   

Mr. Kracov serves on the adjunct faculty at the Loyola Law School where he teaches land use law and regulation.  In 2019, Mr. Kracov proudly coached the Loyola Law School team to first place in the 20th Annual California Lawyers Association Environmental Law Student Negotiation Competition.  He is the California Governor appointee to both the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board.  CARB is the state’s lead air pollution and climate change regulatory agency.  In these roles, he hears from a wide array of stakeholders on the most complex public policy issues and is tasked with reaching satisfactory outcomes while maintaining trust and accessibility. Previously, he chaired the three-person Department of Toxic Substances Independent Review Panel created by statute to provide permitting and governance oversight.