DISTRICT ATTORNEY LARRY KRASNER
A lifelong commitment to accuracy in criminal justice, civil rights, equal justice, and empowering the people.
Lawrence S. Krasner was officially sworn in for a second term as Philadelphia’s 26th District Attorney on January 2, 2022.
Throughout his 34-year career, Mr. Krasner has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to social justice, stepping up at numerous times in the past to offer his services for free to defend protesters involved with movements like ACT UP, Black Lives Matter, progressive clergy with POWER, Casino-Free Philadelphia, DACA Dreamers, Decarcerate PA, anti-gun clergy with Heeding God’s Call, anti-poverty and homelessness advocates with Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Occupy Philly and Reclaim Philadelphia, Grannies for Peace, and many others.
Early in his career, Mr. Krasner was a federal public defender before going into private practice as a civil rights and criminal defense attorney. In his last job before being elected, Mr. Krasner served as of-counsel at the law firm of Greenblatt, Pierce, Funt, and Flores.
Mr. Krasner was born in 1961 in St. Louis, the son of a World War II veteran and author father and evangelist mother. He attended public school in the St. Louis and Philadelphia areas and earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago in 1983 and his law degree from Stanford in 1987.
He’s lived in Philadelphia for more than three decades with his wife of over 30 years, retired Court of Common Pleas Judge Lisa M. Rau. After for many years on Philadelphia’s highest trial bench, Judge Rau retired to found her own private mediation company, Resonate Mediation & Arbitration. They have two adult sons.
ABOUT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: LEADERSHIP
First Assistant Robert Listenbee, a national leader in juvenile justice reform
First Assistant Robert Listenbee is a nationally recognized expert on the juvenile justice system, with experience at the local, state, and federal levels.
In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed him to lead the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
During his four-year tenure there, First Assistant Listenbee developed Smart on Juvenile Justice planning grants awarded to support state reforms to ensure access to quality legal representation for system-involved youth.Here at the DAO, First Assistant Listenbee is leading efforts to increase rehabilitative approaches to system-involved youth, making sure detention and out-of-home placement are used only when necessary.
ABOUT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: LEADERSHIP
First Assistant Judge Carolyn Engel Temin, a pioneer and changemaker
As the only woman in her law school class at the University of Pennsylvania and the first woman public defender in the nation, Judge Temin has combated sexism in and out of the courtroom, where she was regularly mistaken for years to be a secretary by judges and lawyers alike.
She made history when she took a joint case all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in her clients’ favor by finding the Muncy Act unconstitutional based on its violation of equal protection provided in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Years later, in semi-retirement after a career that expanded from Philadelphia to international war crime tribunals, Judge Temin was asked by District Attorney Krasner to lead gender equity reform in the DAO.
In addition to seeking equitable treatment for all in the criminal justice system, Judge Temin also oversees training of young prosecutors.