Ronald B. Grais is a partner in Jenner & Block's
Chicago office and a member of its Real Estate and Climate and Clean Technology Law Practices. Mr. Grais is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell's highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability.
Mr. Grais has extensive experience in all areas of real estate law, particularly as it relates to the development process. He concentrates his practice on zoning, tax increment financing and commercial and retail leasing. Mr. Grais has zoning experience that includes mixed-use residential/office and retail planned developments, and regional shopping centers in metropolitan
Chicago and throughout the country. Mr. Grais represents developers, landlords, tenants and occasionally community groups in his real estate law practice. He has served as Special Redevelopment Counsel, representing the Illinois cities of Des Plaines and
St. Charles . In addition to his law practice, Mr. Grais has been an active real estate developer for more than 20 years and has been responsible for more than a dozen projects, including shopping centers, office buildings and multi-family residential projects.
Mr. Grais has addressed legal and real-estate professionals on the subject of downtown redevelopment at national conferences, including the Urban Land Institute National Convention, the International Downtown Association National Conference, the Urban Mass Transit Agency National Symposium, and the International Council of Shopping Centers/HUD Conference on Centralized Retail Management.
Mr. Grais is the recipient of the 2006 W.F. Faulkes Award by the National Rehabilitation Association Awards Committee which recognizes Mr. Grais' contribution to the rehabilitation profession. Mr. Grais is also the recipient of the 2006 Citizen Community Rehabilitation Service Award, a Chicago and State of
Illinois honor.
Mr. Grais is a Director, Officer and committee member of Thresholds, the nation's foremost psychiatric rehabilitation agency, and serves as President of Thresholds Rehabilitation Industries. Mr. Grais is a Director of the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation, a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and a member of the Lambda Alpha International Honorary Land Economics Society. He has served as a Commissioner and Vice Chairman for State of
Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, and is a former Commissioner of the Winnetka Plan Commission.
Mr. Grais received his undergraduate degree in 1965 from
Cornell
University and his J.D. degree in 1968 from the
University of
Chicago , where he served as Associate Editor of the
University of
Chicago Law Review.
Mr. Grais is admitted to practice in
Illinois and is a member of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association.
Kristen M. Boike is an associate in Jenner & Block's
Chicago office. She is a member of the Firm's Real Estate, Real Estate Securities, and Climate and Clean Technology Law Practice Groups.
Ms. Boike has experience with various types of real estate transactions including, private placement memorandums (PPMs), sales and acquisitions, bankruptcy related deals, financing, corporate stock or asset sales and commercial and retail leasing. In connection with these transactions, she has reviewed leases, surveys and underlying documents, and drafted purchase agreements, closing documents, leases, loan documents and PPMs. Ms. Boike also has experience with green and sustainable building issues.
Ms. Boike graduated magna cum laude from
Harvard
College in 2001 with a degree in Psychology and Religion. She received her J.D. in 2006 from the University of Michigan Law School. During law school, she was an article editor for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, a Research Director for the Voting Rights Initiative of the Election Law Project and participated in the Urban Communities Clinic.
Ms. Boike currently serves on the board of directors of Chicago Adventure Therapy.
Ms. Boike is a member of the Illinois Bar and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
About Jenner & Block. Jenner & Block LLP is a national law firm with over 450 lawyers experienced in virtually every area of the law. Jenner & Block's reputation as one of the country's most successful law firms has been established by consistently delivering excellent legal counsel to clients in the boardroom and the courtroom, from the trial level through the United States Supreme Court. In keeping with the Firm's tradition of proactively addressing the needs of the global business community, Jenner & Block's Climate and Clean Technology Law Practice takes a unique, holistic and cross disciplinary approach to addressing its clients' needs in this rapidly evolving area of the law.