IN MEMORIAM

JOHN GORMAN (1954-2010)

John Gorman was one of our firm’s founders and one of the nation’s top civil litigators. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979 and began his career in Chicago as an associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, an international law firm. He returned to California two years later to work at Shapiro, Laufer, Posell & Close, a highly regarded Los Angeles litigation firm, where he became a partner. Several years later, he moved back to the Palo Alto area where he met and in 1993 married Jennifer Cheng. That same year, he founded Gorman & Miller, along with Ken Miller and Jonathan Blau, two of his Stanford Law School classmates.

A tenacious advocate, John won numerous multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts for his clients as well as more than twenty published appellate decisions, including a recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals expanding the rights of consumers against credit card companies. He was recognized in 2008 and 2009 by Thomson Reuters as a Northern California “Super Lawyer”. Notwithstanding his distinguished career, John was ever humble. John was always available to his partners and friends to listen to their problems and provide his ideas and support.

We will all miss his dry wit, his brilliant lawyering, his stoic resolve and his friendship.

DAVID KRAUS (1957-2011)

David Kraus practiced real estate law in Los Angeles for thirty years.   He was highly respected for his knowledge of the field and for his meticulous legal work.

Extraordinarily bright, David obtained a B.S. in Economics from UCLA, with highest honors (summa cum laude) in only three years.   He was then admitted to Stanford Law School, where he obtained his J.D. in 1981.   At Stanford Law School, he became friends with two of the founders of the Gorman & Miller, joining the firm in 1999.

Before joining Gorman & Miller, David practiced real estate law at several other leading real estate law firms, and also worked at Bet Tzedek Legal Services.

David was extremely generous with his time. Even when busy, he was eager to answer other lawyers’ real estate law questions. Outside the office, David was equally generous. He volunteered hundreds of hours of his time to build houses for the poor.

His family, friends and colleagues miss him greatly.