There is some more bad news for the D.C. bar this afternoon. Legal Times is reporting that Mark Levy, a well-known lawyer who headed the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice section of Kilpatrick Stockton has killed himself in his office — reportedly by a gunshot of a .38 calibre handgun to the head. The firm had told Levy that he was about to be laid off with a number of other lawyers due to the economy.

Levy was the deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration. He reportedly was planning this suicide for some time and had gotten his affairs in order and wrote a long farewell note to his wife and family.

After the loss of Bill Moffitt and Charles Schulze this week, the death of Levy is heavy blow for the legal community.

Below is his remarkable resume from the firm’s website:

Mark Levy is counsel in the Washington, D.C. office and chairs the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Practice. A graduate of Yale Law School, he served for five years in the Office of the Solicitor General and also was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Appellate in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. Among other appellate-related activities and organizations, Mr. Levy is a member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure and a former member of the D.C. Circuit Advisory Committee on Procedures, a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and a Master in the Edward Coke Appellate American Inn of Court. He also is a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law and teaches a seminar on appellate litigation.

Mr. Levy earned his J.D. at Yale Law School where he was the Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal and received the Israel H. Peres Prize awarded annually by the faculty for the best student contribution published in the Yale Law Journal. His undergraduate degree is from Yale College, B.A., in Physics and Philosophy where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude with honors with exceptional distinction.

Following graduation, Mr. Levy served one year as the law clerk to the Honorable Gerhard A. Gesell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He was an associate at a Washington, D.C. firm for five years, and an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice for five years. Mr. Levy then became a partner at a large Chicago law firm where his practice focused on Supreme Court and appellate litigation.

In August 1993, Mr. Levy joined the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division at the Department of Justice. He was responsible for the appellate litigation of the Division and supervised a staff of approximately 60 lawyers. During his tenure with the Clinton Administration, Mr. Levy argued a number of high-profile cases in the courts of appeals. In September 1995, he left the government to become a partner in the Supreme Court and appellate litigation group at a large Washington, D.C. law firm where his practice involved briefing and arguing cases in the Supreme Court and in federal and state appellate courts.

Mr. Levy has spoken about the Supreme Court and appellate practice at a number of legal conferences and law school seminars. He also has made presentations to the American Bar Association Section on Litigation, the ABA Section on Torts, the Eleventh Circuit Appellate Practice Institute, the Fifth Circuit Bar Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Corporate Counsel Association, the Product Liability Advisory Council, the American Trucking Associations’ General Counsel Forum, the Washington Legal Foundation, the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, the Young Presidents’ Organization, and Yale Law School. In addition, Mr. Levy has published several articles on substantive and procedural issues concerning the Supreme Court. He also frequently comments on the Supreme Court and a variety of legal issues in both the legal and general media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Business Week, Dow Jones News Service, Financial Times, Forbes.com, Legal Times, the National Law Journal, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Radio News, and NPR/Marketplace. In addition, Mr. Levy has published several articles on substantive and procedural issues concerning the Supreme Court, and he writes a regular column on appellate litigation for the National Law Journal.

Mr. Levy is listed in various publications such as Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business Litigation (Appellate), The Best Lawyers in America (Appellate), The Best Lawyers in Washington, D.C. (Appellate), Super Lawyers in Washington, DC (Appellate), Who’s Who Legal: USA – Commercial Litigation, and Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America. He is a former Treasurer and Executive Committee member of the Yale Law School Alumni Association.

Selected Experience

Argued 16 cases in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Involved in over 100 cases on the merits before the Court and has submitted merits briefs for parties, filed amicus curiae briefs, prepared petitions for certiorari and briefs in opposition, and advised other counsel on Supreme Court strategy and procedures.
Argued numerous cases in the federal courts of appeals and participated in the briefing of cases in every circuit and a number of state appellate courts, including the “gays in the military” lawsuits, the Brady Handgun Control Act litigation, and the clinic-access (“FACE”) suits.
Frequent commentator and author on the Supreme Court and appellate litigation.
Professional Affiliates and Activities
Member, Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (2003 – present)
Former member, D.C. Circuit Advisory Committee on Procedures (2000-present)
Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (1996-present)
Master, Edward Coke Appellate American Inn of Court (2002-present)
Adjunct Faculty, University of Virginia School of Law
Columnist on Appellate Litigation, National Law Journal
Former Treasurer and Executive Committee member, Yale Law School Alumni Association (New Haven, CT) (1987-90)
Member, The Lawyers Club of Chicago
Fellow, Phi Beta Kappa Society
Publications, Articles and Speeches

Columnist on Appellate Litigation, National Law Journal, 2004 – Present
“Writing the Winning Brief,” Eleventh Circuit Appellate Practice Institute, 10/2008
“Divesting Jurisdiction,” National Law Journal, 9/22/2008
“Manufactured Finality,” National Law Journal, 5/5/2008
“Changes in Law” National Law Journal, 12/3/2007
“Briefing Requirements,” National Law Journal, 7/2/2007
“Setting New Precedent: Using Unpublished Opinions under New Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1,” American Association of Law Libraries 100th Annual Meeting, 07/2007
“Plurality Opinions,” National Law Journal, 2/12/2007
“Class Action Appeals,” Eleventh Circuit Appellate Practice Institute, 10/2006
“Effective Briefs,” National Law Journal, 9/25/2006
“Appellate Overload,” National Law Journal, 5/22/2006
“Judging The Justices: The New Roberts Court,” 56 European Lawyer 20, 03/2006
“The Mandate,” National Law Journal, 1/16/2006
“In-House Appellate Litigators Who Wear Two Hats,” Association of Corporate Counsel, 11/2005
“State Court Remands,” National Law Journal, 9/05/2005
“Class Action Appeals,” National Law Journal, 5/02/2005
“Conflicting Precedent,” National Law Journal, 12/20/2004
“Arbitration Appeals II,” National Law Journal, 8/16/2004
“Pendent Jurisdiction,” National Law Journal, 4/12/200
“Class Action Appeals,” Eleventh Circuit Appellate Practice Institute, 10/2006
“A Review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Business-Related Cases,” Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, 10/2006 and 10/2003
“Supreme Court Media Briefing,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 9/2006, 9/1998, and 9/1997
“Media Briefing on the Supreme Court,” Washington Legal Foundation, 2/1996, 6/1998, 2/2003, and 6/2005
“Appellate Brief Writing,” University of Virginia Law School, 1/2000
“Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy,“ Yale Law School, 2/1990, 11/1991, and 12/1997
Levy, High Court Takes Care of Business, 18 National Law Journal C8, 9/29/1996
“Supreme Court Review,” American Trucking Associations’ Forum for Motor Carrier General Counsel, 6/1995
“Appellate Brief Writing” and “Oral Argument,” Fifth Circuit Bar Conference on Appellate Practice and Advocacy, 3/1994
“Appellate Advocacy in the 1990’s,” ABA Section on Litigation, 10/1991
“How to Prepare for an Oral Argument in the ‘90s,” ABA Section on Litigation, 8/1991
“Amicus Curiae Briefs in Preemption and Products Liability Cases,” Product Liability Advisory Council, 4/1991
“Punitive Damages,” Young Presidents’ Organization of South Bend, Indiana, 3/1991
“Containing Runaway Legal Costs,” Illinois Manufacturers’ Association Program, 9/1990
“Amicus Curiae Briefs,” ABA Section on Litigation, Products Liability Committee , 4/1990
Geller & Levy, The Supreme Court’s Rules for the ‘90s, 76 ABA J. 70, 4/1990
Levy, Amicus Briefs in the Supreme Court: The Need for a Corporate Amicus Program, 8 ACCA Docket 18 (American Corporate Counsel Association, Winter 1990), reprinted in 12 Business Counsel 3 (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Spring 1990)
Levy, There is a Studied Way to Practice Preventive Law in the Supreme Court, 8 Preventive Law Reporter 6, 9/1989
“Amicus Briefs in the Supreme Court,” presented to the Conference on Preventive Law held by the American Corporate Counsel Association and the University of Denver College of Law’s National Center for Preventive law, 7/1989
Geller & Levy, The Constitutionality of Punitive Damages, 73 ABA J. 88, 1987
Note, The Function of the Preliminary Hearing in Federal Pretrial Procedure, 83 Yale L.J. 771, 1974
Background
Bar Admissions to the District of Columbia (1976); United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1977); Supreme Court of the United States (1980); State of Illinois (1987, inactive); U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1990) and the First (2000), Second (1994), Third (1996), Fourth (1994), Fifth (1996), Sixth (1990), Seventh (1990), Eighth (1990), Ninth (1993), Tenth (1994), Eleventh (1996), and Federal (1996) Circuits; U.S. Tax Court (1990).
AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.*

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