Women in Law 2022

FRANCES KRASNOW PARTNER Harrison & Held

TOP WOMEN IN LAW HONOREE

F ran Krasnow is a highly respected family lawyer who has long been a leader in the Chicago community. An experienced trial attorney and powerful advocate, Fran also frequently engages in mediation and is a certified arbitrator. Fran is a compassionate and resourceful attorney whose practice encompasses all areas of complex family law, including marital dissolutions, child custody, maintenance and child support, relocation, asset identification and allocation, and she has extensive experience with prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. With a strong commitment to community service, Fran has served on nonprofit boards throughout her entire legal career. She is currently Chairman of the Board of the six-state Anti-Defamation League Midwest Region. Fran serves on the board of her alma mater, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, as well as the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. Fran also serves on the board of a Wintrust subsidiary. A longtime stalwart advocate for women’s rights, fresh out of law school Fran was elected to the board of the Chicago Council of Lawyers where she chaired its Women’s Rights Committee and, among other things, lobbied legislators in Springfield to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Since that time Fran has chaired additional Women’s Rights Committees and Women’s Initiatives. She has mentored innumerable young lawyers – and aspiring law students – and has even been known to mentor her opposing counsel long after a case concludes. At Harrison & Held, Fran has been a role model, working with individual lawyers on everything ranging from technical skills to business development to how to thrive through a pandemic. Fran’s partner, Lou Harrison, reports that in the past two years, largely through Fran’s leadership, Harrison & Held more than doubled the number of its women attorneys. Fran has received many peer-selected awards including Best Lawyers in America in Family Law every year since 2008, among others. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and she received the ADL Woman of Achievement Award as well as the AFHU Leaders of Distinction Award. Fran and her husband are the parents of four adult children who have been kind enough to generate five children of their own (and counting). While raising her family, Fran was a founding director of the Highland Park school district foundation, ultimately chairing that board as well. Fran served as a Highland Park Commissioner, a PTA Vice President, and a room mother for at least 15 consecutive years. Fran graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law where she was awarded the American Trial Lawyers’ Medal for Excellence in Advocacy. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Psychology which she uses every day in her law practice. In her spare time, Fran likes to bike ride and enjoys writing song parodies, having written more than 100 such tunes to honor her family and friends on their “speed limit” birthdays.

WOMEN IN LAW 2022