No one in Judge Rachel Krause's family had ever gone to college. Regardless, she has wanted to be a lawyer for as long as she can remember. A car accident at 17 left her partially paralyzed and permanently in a wheelchair. Undeterred, she graduated from physical rehabilitation at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center, finished high school and college, graduated law school and – after a distinguished legal career – was appointed to a judgeship and subsequently won election by the voters of Fulton County. Somewhere in there, she managed to get married and raise three children.

Judge Krause has served on the Superior Court of Fulton County, Atlanta Judicial Circuit, since January 7, 2019. She was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal, then elected to a full term in June 2020.

In one of the most rewarding aspects of her job, Judge Krause volunteered to preside over one of four Accountability Courts in Fulton County; this is in addition to managing a docket in the busiest Superior Court in Georgia. Through her continuing work on the Accountability Court, she helps people whose criminal actions resulted from substance abuse. Defendants who want help and take responsibility for their actions can work through the drug court program to overcome their issues and return to their communities as responsible citizens.

With a firm belief that service on the bench requires more than presiding, Judge Krause serves on the Court’s Executive Committee, Case Management Committee, and Business Court Committee. During the pandemic, Judge Krause helped create a “virtual voir dire” system where jurors could be selected remotely so that the work of the court could continue safely. She also serves on the Nominations Committee and Pattern Jury Instruction Committee for Georgia’s Council of Superior Court Judges and currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia, Atlanta Post 18.

Judge Krause practiced law for 18 years in Georgia and Florida. Prior to her appointment, she was a partner with Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith in Atlanta.

Judge Krause earned her undergraduate degree in political science from Georgia Southern University and her law degree from Mercer University Law School, in Macon, Georgia, where she was born and raised. Judge Krause and her husband Tom have three children, two in Atlanta Public Schools and their oldest at Florida State University. She is a member of Holy Spirit Church where she taught Sunday school for 10 years.

The Judicial Council of Georgia invited Judge Krause to a virtual discussion with students from Sandtown Middle School and Rise Prep Charter Middle School on Law Day

The Shepherd Center profiled Judge Krause as a prominent graduate of its rehabilitation program: https://news.shepherd.org/shooting-for-more-than-normal/

Judge Krause published in Duke University Law School Journal of the Judiciary: https://judicature.duke.edu/author/rkrause/