Melissa Hart, the chair of the ABA Legal Ed council, dies
Melissa Hart, the chair of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, died Thursday. Hart assumed the council chair position in August. (Photo courtesy of the Judicial Arbiter Group)
Updated: Melissa Hart, the chair of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, died Thursday.
Hart, who retired from the Colorado Supreme Court in January, previously was a professor at the University of Colorado Law School and directed the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law, assumed the council chair position in August.
“As a leader, Melissa had the ability to thoughtfully question and challenge others while bringing people together and building collaboration,” the council said in a statement Friday. “She often paused to ‘put her law professor hat on’ and think critically about what was ethical and right. She was deeply passionate about legal education and access to justice, focusing on the students and the public as her North Stars.”
The cause of death was not stated. Her husband, Kevin Traskos, told the Denver Post that she had been battling health issues.
“Melissa Hart embodied the very best of our profession. She was a brilliant jurist, an inspiring teacher and a tireless advocate for fairness, inclusion and access to justice,” said ABA President Barbara J. Howard in an Oct. 2 statement. “Her wisdom, integrity and generosity touched countless lives. On behalf of the American Bar Association, I extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, colleagues and students. Her legacy will inspire lawyers and judges for generations.”
Hart’s term started as the council faced the U.S. Department of Education’s five-year review of its status as national accreditor of law schools.
Last week, Hart sat at the council’s table during the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity’s contentious hearing regarding the council’s status, held since 1952, and after several hours of debate, the committee voted to not make a recommendation.
Carla Pratt has assumed the role of the council chair, effective immediately. Pratt, a professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, had been serving as the council chair-elect.
The council is an independent arm of the ABA, which has been the target of criticism by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“She understood that our decisions reach beyond institutions to affect students, the people they will one day represent, and the communities they will serve. She kept that human responsibility at the heart of her leadership,” Pratt said in a statement. “For the council and the legal community, her passing leaves an immeasurable void. On behalf of the council, I extend our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, the Colorado legal community and all who loved her. We will miss her dearly and carry forward her commitment to serving others.”
Hart, who received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University’s Radcliffe College and her law degree from Harvard Law School, was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2017 by then-Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement on the day of her memorial, flags would fly at half-staff. A date for that memorial has not been released.
Updated Oct. 2 at 3:11 p.m. to include the statement from ABA President Barbara J. Howard.
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