A prominent lawyer who was laid off this week was found dead in an apparent suicide at in his downtown D.C. office.
D.C. police received a report Thursday morning of a shooting at the 11th-floor office of Kilpatrick Stockton and found Mark I. Levy dead alone in his own office. A D.C. police spokeswoman said investigators believe it was a suicide.
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Levy, who served as the firm’s counsel and chaired its Supreme Court and appellate advocacy practice, was one of two dozen lawyers who learned they were being let go this week, a police source said. Earlier this week, the Atlanta-based firmed announced the layoffs of 24 lawyers and counsel, attributing cuts to the economic downturn.
On Thursday afternoon, the firm’s co-managing partner, Bill Dorris, released a short statement confirming Levy’s death: “Mark Levy was well known and highly respected for his successful appearances before the Supreme Court of the United States. We offer our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.”
Levy, 59, left an e-mail message at his work account Thursday morning that said: “As of April 30, 2009, I can no longer be reached. If your message relates to a firm matter, please contact my secretary. … If it concerns a personal matter, please contact my wife. … Thanks.”
A friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Levy served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice between 1993 and 1995. He also served five years in the solicitor general’s office. He attended Yale University’s law school at the same time as the Clintons and recently helped raise money for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said Dennis Gingold, a lawyer who was working with Levy on a case.
“I don’t know anyone who isn’t shocked by what just happened,” Gingold told the Associated Press. “He was a good guy … and professionally, he was first-class.”
During his career, Levy had argued 16 cases before the Supreme Court, according to the firm’s Web site. He also is a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law and teaches a seminar on appellate litigation. Levy was married with children.
