Clayton Jay Crane joined Coplan & Crane after nearly 20 years as a trial judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County. During his time on the bench, Judge Crane presided over more than 1,000 jury and bench trials.
Judge Crane received a B.A. in Economics from Fairfield University in 1968 and then joined the United States Marines. His tour with the Marines ended in 1975 at which time he was a Platoon Sergeant in a military police unit. Judge Crane graduated from Hamline University Law School in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1975. He was then sworn in as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Cook County, Illinois. In 1979 he was a founding partner of Berkley & Crane, practicing in general law. He served 12 years as the Village Attorney of Streamwood, Illinois and was also the Streamwood Village prosecutor for 15 years.
In 1996, Judge Crane was elected Circuit Court Judge. He spent his first year as a Judge in Traffic Court and then was transferred to the Criminal Division at 26th & California where he remained until he retired. He presided over many high profile trials.
Judge Crane resides in Elgin, Illinois. He is a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist, which is also the school all three of his children and three of his grandchildren attend.
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We are pleased to announce that Ted C. Jennings has joined Coplan & Crane as an attorney. Ted is a trial lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience litigating complex cases, including medical malpractice and other catastrophic injury cases. He represents those who have been harmed by substandard medical care, product defects, and dangerous truckers.
Ted is a designated “Super Lawyer” in Illinois, and has been elected by his peers as a “Leading Lawyer” in personal injury and medical malpractice. He is a member of the Society of Trial Lawyers, the elite, invitation only group of top trial lawyers in the area.
Among his professional activities, Ted is a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice and the American Bar Association. He graduated cum laude from The University of Minnesota Law School in 1994.
We are excited to have both Judge Crane and Ted Jennings join our firm.
