Charles Edward Clark

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Charles Edward Clark (December 9, 1889 - December 13, 1963) was a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1939 to 1963. A native of Connecticut, Clark attended Yale College and Yale Law School. He became a law professor at Yale in 1919 and Dean of the Yale Law School in 1929, a position he held until 1939, when he was nominated ot the Second Circuit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Clark served on the Second Circuit until his death in 1963, including service as Chief Judge from 1954 to 1959. The Second Circuit during Clark's tenure was widely considered one of the best appellate courts in the country, including Judges Learned Hand, Augustus Hand, Charles Edward Clark, and Jerome Frank.

Before taking the bench, Clark served as chief drafter of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which were adopted in 1938. During his years as a judge, Clark often was regarded as an expert on the Rules but sometimes quarrelled with the other judges on his court (most especially Jerome Frank), both behind the scenes and in his opinions, on the disposition of procedural issues.

Clark's extensive papers are archived at Yale University and open to researchers.