Author | Speaker

John Kralik

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and went to grade school there and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I graduated from Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio, and then attended the University of Michigan, from which I received a B.A. (1975) and then a J.D. (1979). After that, I practiced law in Los Angeles for 30 years, including at the firms of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Miller Tokuyama, Kralik & Sur and Kralik & Jacobs, as well as on my own as Kralik & Associates. In September 2009, I was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to be a Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Grateful Thoughts,

An Author’s Blog

I Have Always Loved Audiobooks

I Have Always Loved Audiobooks

Almost as far back as I can remember, listening--to something--has been a prerequisite for falling asleep. At first it was a choice. Now it’s more of a habit. Or, more honestly, an addiction. It started with the transistor radio I snuck into my boarding school. There...

The Smiles of Strangers

The Smiles of Strangers

Let me make clear that I offer no opinion here as to whether masks should have ever been required, or when they should stop being required. My only opinion is that there should be a day when they should stop being required. And further, and just as importantly, there...

The Scene on a Lake

The Scene on a Lake

My new book Three Bodies by the River is a work of fiction, but you will recognize places in it, including the “river.” A key scene takes place on a lake in Northern Michigan. When I wrote the scene, I had in mind a lake where I had spent five summers teaching young...

Man’s Search for Meaning

Man’s Search for Meaning

It’s Mother’s Day, 2021. For the first time in 14 months, we walk through the doors of our church. Looking around, old friends are recognized. The seats seem full, though some are held empty. We see the joyful faces of the singers, singing out, singing at last, that...

Falling Asleep in Court

Falling Asleep in Court

The narrator in my new novel, Three Bodies by the River, is a lawyer who won his best verdict in a case where he appeared to fall asleep. The novel is set in the ‘90’s. While sitting through some long trials during that decade, I became intrigued by those who would...

First Name Starbucks, Last Name Freed

First Name Starbucks, Last Name Freed

I like my Apple Watch, I really do. At least I keep telling myself that. My new book, Three Bodies by the River, is set in the nineties. It was the decade when cell phones morphed from luxury to necessity. As the decade ended, my son graduated from high school. I was...

The Things I Learned from Jigsaw Puzzles

The Things I Learned from Jigsaw Puzzles

For the initial six weeks of the pandemic last year, I was not allowed to work. I had not had six weeks off from work since I left home at 17 for my first full time job, at a summer camp. While I didn’t work full time during school, I always had one, sometimes two and...

How to Be Crazy Amazing in Difficult Times.

How to Be Crazy Amazing in Difficult Times.

Remember that moment?  When this all started. When you knew it was going to be something.   Two days before, I had planned to be in New York City to run a half marathon. My bones had been hurting whenever I went over six miles.  At mile ten, I felt really, really old....