Ben co-founded Strauss Malk & Feder LLP and was a guiding force in the development of the firm’s nationally respected Trusts & Estates and business planning practices. Before his retirement in 2024, Ben passed the leadership torch to his son, Michael Strauss, who now serves as the firm’s managing partner. Ben’s legacy of thoughtful counsel, professional excellence, and client-first service continues to shape the firm. We thank him for his decades of leadership and wish him the very best in retirement.

Ben concentrated his practice in estate and trust planning—including asset protection, tax reduction, estate administration, and estate and trust controversies; business transactions, including partnership, LLC, and corporate matters, business transfers, and wealth succession; and key employee benefits and executive compensation, including qualified and non-qualified benefit plans. A substantial portion of his clients were active or retired entrepreneurs and their businesses.

Ben wrote and spoke extensively throughout his career. He authored and regularly updated Estate and Gift Planning for the Business Owner, published by RIA, and co-authored Post Mortem Tax Planning, published by Warren Gorham & Lamont. He lectured for organizations such as the Minnesota and Illinois CPA societies, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education.

Ben was a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He chaired the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Committee, served as president of the 6,000-member Non-Resident Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Wisconsin, and was a member of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Prior to co-founding the firm, Ben practiced law with two of the largest law firms in Chicago.

Education

• Loyola University Law School, J.D. (1972)
• University of Illinois (1968)

Associations & Recognition

• Board of Governors of the State Bar of Wisconsin, Member (2001 – 2004)
• Non-Resident Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Wisconsin, President (2002 – 2003)
• American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Fellow (1995 – present)
• Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Committee, Chair (1991 – 1992)

Publications

"Post Mortem Tax Planning" (co-author), (Warren Gorham & Lamont).

"Estate and Gift Planning for the Business Owner" (RIA).