The Hon. Rudolph Kass Scholarship Fund

Hon. Rudolph Kass
Associate Justice, Massachusetts Appeals Court

A judge whose gift of language is reflected in the carefully reasoned, quick-witted and eloquent decisions he authored. Editor of Legal Chowder: Lawyering and Judging in Massachusetts.

MCLE joins the Massachusetts legal community in mourning the passing of the Honorable Rudolph Kass, who died on June 4, 2021, at the age of 90. He will be missed. Born in Magdeburg, Germany in 1930 and having fled rising Nazism as a child, he became an exceptional lawyer and judge with an extraordinarily kind and generous spirit. Well known for his love of language and words, his superior gift for writing—honed while he was managing editor of The Crimson at Harvard College and a freelance journalist before attending Harvard Law School—is reflected in the carefully reasoned, quick-witted and eloquent decisions he authored in more than 20 years as an Associate Justice on the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Indeed, he raised the written opinion to an art form.

Throughout his distinguished career, Judge Kass selflessly shared his considerable talents—wisdom, intellect, sense of humor—with generations of lawyers. An enthusiastic MCLE volunteer, he served on countless programs related to real estate, civil litigation, appellate practice, and mediation. He also channeled his formidable intellect and writing prowess into serving as editor of MCLE’s Legal Chowder: Lawyering and Judging in Massachusetts and Reflections on Diversity in the Massachusetts Legal Profession and as a contributing author on Massachusetts Superior Court Civil Practice Manual and Appellate Practice in Massachusetts.

Upon his retirement from the bench in 2000, Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer, where he practiced law prior to joining the Court in 1979, helped to create the Hon. Rudolph Kass Scholarship Fund, which over the years has grown with additional contributions from others in the legal community to fund MCLE scholarships and other training opportunities and resources for lawyers who serve the public interest, including legal aid staff attorneys and private practitioners who accept pro bono cases.

DONORS

Established by a leadership gift from Brown Rudnick LLP in honor of the firm’s former partner, along with additional contributions from:

The Abstract Club
Jacquelyn Waters Adams
Benjamin O. Adeyinka
Heidi S. Alexander
Paul F. Alphen
Robert W. Anctil
Bruce H. Bagdasarian
Vesper Gibbes Barnes
Mark Edward Barnett
Bethany A. Bartlett
Elizabeth J. Barton
Robert L. Bell Jr.
Kendra L. Berardi
Thomas Bhisitkul
Erica P. Bigelow
Marissa Aquila Blundell
Barbara J. Bowe
Tammy L. Boyle
Gary S. Brackett
Patrick J. Brady
Margaret B. Briggs
Brown Rudnick LLP
David J. Buczkowski
Marianne C. Byrne
Charles Cain
Joseph Callanan
Jeffrey A. Campbell
Mary L. Cataudella
Barbara R. Chandler
Tyler E. Chapman
Edward S. Cheng
Hon. Cynthia J. Cohen
W. Patrick Connolly
William G. Constable
Daniel C. Crane
Hon. John C. & Holly B. Cratsley
Kevin T. Creedon
Bradley L. Croft
Leo J. Cushing
Daniel P. Dain
Laura E. Days
Lisa J. Delaney
Deidre C. Desmond
Noel M. Di Carlo
Rick Diamond
Ruth A. Dillingham
Ryan DiSantis
Robert A. Deleo
Roger D. Donoghue
Hillary Dorner
Rodney S. Dowell
Hon. Fernande R.V. Duffly
Amanda S. Eckhoff
Deborah A. Eliason
V. Douglas Errico
Robert B. Feingold
David Ferris
Kenneth P. Fields
Robert A. Fishman
Martha and John A. Fiske
Susan W. Foner
David C. Formato
Hon. Robert B. Foster
Matthew P. Galas
Alfred Geoffrion, Jr.
Michael J. Goldberg
Neil Golden
John J. Goldrosen
Marc J. Goldstein
Henry A. Goodman
Hugh J. Gorman III
Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton
Steve Gottheim
Ward P. Graham
Peter F. Granoff
Christopher J. Gulotta
Eugene Gurvits
Richard P. Halfmann
Michael J. Hart
Jonathan R. Hausner
Ingeborg E. Hegemann
Richard A. Hogan
Carol J. Holahan
Michael Holiday
Hon. Nancy S. Holtz
Scott W. Horsley
William V. Hovey
Lauren R. Inker
Andrew G. Kaeyer
Hon. Rudolph & Helen K. Kass
Stanley Keller
Melanie E. Kido
Alan J. Klevan
Hon. Peter B. & Vicki L. Krupp
Land Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Philip S. Lapatin
Mark A. Leahy
Hon. Barbara A. Lenk
Dean T. Lennon
Charles N. Le Ray
Brian C. Levey
Hon. Stephen M. Limon
Thomas M. Looney
William F. Lyons, Jr.
Michael D. MacClary
Robert S. Mangiaratti
Jennifer L. Markowski
Clive D. Martin
Peter J. Martin
James D. Masterman
Gregor I. McGregor
Michelle A. McHale
Nancy L. McCormick
Michael McDonagh
Harry S. Miller,esq.
Beth H. Mitchell
Mary-Margaret Moniz
Thomas D. Moore
Julie Taylor Moran
Robert J. Moriarty, Jr.
Thomas O. Moriarty
Melissa B. Morrow
David K. Moynihan
Kevin F. Murphy
Mary B. Murrane
Michael K. Murray
Francis J. Nolan
Edward Notis-McConarty
Kathleen M. O'Donnell
Jeffrey L. Ontell
Scott C. Owens
Gail S. Packer
Julie M. Palmaccio
Evelyn J. Patsos
C. Max Perlman
Hon. Gordon H. Piper
Christopher S. Pitt
William J. Poorvu
Nicole Clawson Pratt
Matthew F. Probolus
Ann M. Ragosta
Carrie B. Rainen
Real Estate Bar Association Foundation, Inc.
Richard Martin Reass
Joel M. Reck
Lynne F. Riley
Robert W. Ritchie
Mayte Rivera
Deidre Roney
Hon. Margot Botsford and S. Stephen Rosenfeld
Paul Grant Rozelle
Diane R. Rubin
Mary K. Ryan
Jamie A. Sabino
Douglas W. Salvesen
Gregory S. Sampson
Tani E. Sapirstein
Charles E. Schaub, Jr.
James A. Sifflard
Michelle T. Simons
James S. Singer
Jon K. Skarin
Edward J. Smith
Ricardo M. Sousa
Joel A. Stein
Sophie Stein
Peter Sturges, Esq
Stephen J. Tassinari
Diane C. Tillotson
Hon Charles W. Trombly, Jr
David C. Uitti
Donald E. Vaughan
William D. Wagner
Mindee Wasserman
John "Jack" M. Welch
Nancy Weissman
David L. Wiener
Victor A. Wild
Edmund A. Williams, Jr.
David E. Wilson, Esq
Caroline Woodward
Hilary A. Wyche
Jennifer A. Yelen
Thomas J. Zappala
Amanda Zuretti