Legal Community Mourns Loss of U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz

IAALS was very sad to learn that U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz passed away on Sunday, September 30, after battling Lou Gehrig's disease for over a year. Just last year, Judge Kravitz was the recipient of IAALS' Transparent Courthouse Award (now called the Rebuilding Justice Award) for providing leadership in the federal courts for the benefit of litigants and for being at the forefront of efforts to reform civil rules to makes cases move more efficiently through the system. Judge Kravitz leaves a legacy of commitment to the civil justice system and service to the court and public.

From 2001 to 2007, Judge Kravitz was a member of the Standing Committee on the Rules of Practice and Procedure in the United States Courts, Judicial Conference of the United States. And, In 2007, Judge Kravitz was named Chair of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules on the Judicial Conference of the United States. The Connecticut Bar Foundation recently announced that it was planning a symposium in December to honor Kravitz, which is expected to become an annual event. "The legal community, and indeed the entire country, has lost a great mind and a great human being," bar foundation President Timothy Fisher said Monday. "He will never be forgotten by the many people whose lives he graced."