Mark Rabe announces his candidacy for Circuit Judge in the Third Judicial Circuit

EDWARDSVILLE - Today, Mark Rabe announced his candidacy to succeed the Honorable Barbara Crowder as Circuit Judge in the Third Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Madison and Bond Counties.

Rabe, a 1986 graduate of Harvard Law School, was quoted as saying: “I filed today to ensure that the people of Madison and Bond counties have a real choice when electing their next Circuit Judge. I look forward to providing my fellow citizens with the benefit of the diverse experience I will bring to the courthouse.”

Rabe, who in August completed a twenty-one year career as Senior Counsel with The Boeing Company, previously worked in St. Louis for both Bryan Cave and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons), two of the top firms in the country.

When asked what experiences in his legal career best prepared him for running for judicial office, Rabe responded: “Since graduating from law school thirty-one years ago, I have had the opportunity to see litigation and other dispute resolution from every conceivable angle, as litigator, as client, as bill payer and even as witness. I have represented the accused in significant white-collar criminal matters, I have concluded internal investigations of alleged criminal wrongdoing, and I have supplied various prosecutors around the world with facts and data in connection with the efforts to bring criminals and terrorists to justice.

"As to civil matters, I have negotiated and written multi-billion dollar contracts, I have settled scores of contract disputes, I have both appeared in court and managed as the client litigation filed in numerous U.S. and foreign courts, and I have even appeared as a witness speaking on behalf of my client. I have also spent much of my career interpreting and implementing, on behalf of my clients, the requirements of numerous government regulations. These experiences have made it clear to me that we can be much more efficient in dispensing justice, thereby greatly benefiting the public and upholding the rule of law.”

Prior to attending Harvard Law School, Rabe spent five years working full time on night shift as a UMWA-represented coal miner while, for the last three of those years, attending (full time) and graduating from Southern Illinois University during the day.

Rabe said: “I believe I have the distinction of being the only one of my classmates to have quit my blue collar job one day, and then being immersed in the intensity that is Harvard Law School the very next day. Having spent the previous five years operating bulldozers and other heavy equipment in a heavily confrontational labor environment, I found that I had a better grounding in understanding the real-life impacts of many of the laws we discussed in class than did many of my new colleagues, because I had experienced the consequences first hand.”

Rabe has been married to his wife, Cindy Rabe, for 37 years. They have lived in Madison County for all but three of the last thirty-one years. Those three years were spent on a Boeing assignment in the Seattle area, where the couple’s two children and two grandchildren now live.

For questions, please contact Mr. Rabe at (618)-799-9616.

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