Douglas H. Kraft was admitted to the California State Bar in 1991.
His education includes a Bachelors of Business Administration (Finance) in 1974, and a Masters of Business Administration (Management) in 1979, both from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Kraft received his Juris Doctorate, with Great Distinction, in 1991, from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Mr. Kraft was admitted to practice law and became a member of the State Bar of California in December of 1991.
Mr. Kraft began his career in banking. During his 18-year career in banking, Mr. Kraft held various positions from credit analyst, asset-based finance lender, commercial loan officer, manager of a corporation banking unit, to credit administrator. Mr. Kraft continued to work in the banking industry while attending law school at night. In law school, he received numerous academic awards including Order of the Coif, American Jurisprudence Awards for Torts, Bankruptcy, Negotiable Instruments, and Personal Property Finance, and the Corpus Juris Secundum Award, awarded by the faculty for significant contributions to legal scholarship. Mr. Kraft was a Senior Vice President of an independent bank when he left his career in banking and began practicing law in 1993. His practice focuses on representing financial institutions and other commercial lenders in all aspects of commercial and commercial real estate lending, including loan documentation, workouts, and enforcement of creditors rights in both State Court and Bankruptcy Court.
Mr. Kraft was a member of the Insolvency Law Committee (2005-2008) and the Uniform Commercial Code Committee (2000-2003) of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar. Mr. Kraft has been a Member of the Sacramento County Bar Association since 1991 and is a member of the SCBA Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section, the Real Estate Law Section, and the Business Law Section.
Doug has also been a member of the California Bankers Association (“CBA”) serving on the CBA Agricultural Lending Committee and the Lenders’ Conference Task Force. Doug is an active member of the Risk Management Association (“RMA”) and has served on the Board of the Sacramento Valley Chapter and as Program Chairman for over twenty years
Mr. Kraft has been a speaker, panelist and presenter of several programs and continuing education classes dealing in commercial and real estate lending issues, and creditor’s rights and loan documentation enforcement issues. Mr. Kraft has presented, participated in, or moderated programs for the State Bar Business Law Section, the Continuing Education of the Bar, California Bankers Association, Risk Management Association (RMA), California Credit Union League, Sacramento Valley Bankruptcy Forum, and Lorman Educational Seminars.
Mr. Kraft has made presentations on various topics, including the following: California’s Antideficieny Statutes and Sham Guarantees; Taking and Enforcing Security Interests in Personal Property@ (Revised Article 9); Tales From the Trenches: Oops! Thing We Should Have Thought of Before This Loan Became a Problem; Issues Facing Lenders in Agricultural Loan Documentation and Workouts; Don’t Let Your Borrower Get Away – Enforcing Your Loan Documents; and the Impact of Bankruptcy on Real Estate Transactions; to name a few.
Mr. Kraft is an AV Preeminent Rated attorney through Martindale Hubbell. Mr. Kraft was a partner in Kraft Opich, LLP from January 2008 through September 2018. Mr. Kraft opened the Kraft Law firm in October of 2018 and became Of Counsel with Gavrilov & Brooks in July of 2022.