After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972 from Wesleyan University (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), he received a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1975, where he served as Managing Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.

[1] After graduating from law school, Kravitz served as a law clerk to Judge James Hunter III, Circuit Judge, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and subsequently to then-justice (later chief justice) William Rehnquist, of the United States Supreme Court from 1978 to 1979.

Before his appointment to the federal bench, Kravitz was a partner at the Connecticut-based law firm of Wiggin and Dana, LLP, where his practice centered on appellate litigation.

He was nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush to fill a seat on the court vacated by Alfred V. Covello on March 27, 2003 and was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 11, 2003.

[4] After Kravitz's death, on February 24, 2014, the U.S. Senate confirmed Jeffrey A. Meyer to fill the seat.