Hon. Harold E. Kahn

About The Lecturer

Retired Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 2022-present. Participates in the Judicial Council of California’s Temporary Assigned Judges Program to serve as a trial judge throughout California. So far assigned cases in Alameda, Del Norte, Kings, Mendocino, Plumas, San Francisco, San Mateo and Solano Counties.

Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 2001-2022. Appointed by Governor Gray Davis. Re-elected without opposition in 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020. Assignments included presiding over all aspects of civil, criminal and family law cases, as well as asbestos case management court, drug court, criminal domestic violence court, and civil domestic violence court.

From January 2015 to the January 2016 and January 2019 to August 2022 assigned to civil trials. In February and March 2015 presided over the Pao v. Kleiner Perkins trial, which received daily national and sometimes international publicity. Handled numerous cases as a single assignment judge.

From September 2011 to January 2013 and January 2016 to January 2019 assigned as the sole judge to handle all law and motion and discovery matters in all civil cases other than asbestos, CEQA, housing and singly-assigned cases. Established a discovery pro tem program in 2012 which is still operating.

From January 2013 to January 2015 assigned to criminal court handling felony trials and misdemeanor master calendar. From January 2010 through August 2011 assigned as the sole judge in the newly-created asbestos case management department which included handling of all pretrial matters – including law and motion, discovery, settlement and trial setting and readiness – in all asbestos cases. Eliminated a backlog of over 1000 cases, resulting in the first time in at least two decades that the Court was current with its asbestos cases.

Member of the Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee to the California Judicial Council, 2015 to 2022. Member of the subcommittee responsible for implementing the Futures Commission recommendations. Appointed by California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.

Chair of the Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee to the California Judicial Council, 2007-2010. Chair of the Evaluation Subcommittee, 2004-2007. Appointed as a member of the Committee by California Chief Justice Ronald George in 2003 and subsequently appointed by Chief Justice George as a subcommittee chair and then chair of the Committee.

Chair of the Court Administration Committee of the California Judges Association, 2006-2010. Appointed chair by four successive presidents of the California Judges Association.

Chair of the Collaborative Justice Courts Committee of the San Francisco Superior Court, 2003- 2010. Appointed chair by four successive presiding judges. Established San Francisco’s Community Justice Center in 2008.

Received the 2020 Tara L. Reidley Barristers Choice Award from the Barristers Club of the San Francisco Bar Association.

Received the 2016 Judge of the Year Award from the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.

Received the 2003 Judicial Award from the California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association awarded to one judge each year “who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in California Corrections during the past year.”

Professional Activities Prior to Becoming a Judge
Sole Proprietor of the Law Offices of Harold E. Kahn, 1987-2001. Specialized in civil litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants. AV rated.

Arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association and San Francisco Superior Court, 1993- 2001.

Received the 2000 Lawyer of the Year Award from the AIDS Legal Referral Panel of the Bay Area.

Received the Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service Award from the San Francisco Bar Association in 1999.

Received the Wiley M. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the State Bar of California in 1994.

Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at Hastings College of the Law, 1994-1996.

Associate with Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, 1983-1987.

Law Clerk to United States District Judge Joseph Young, 1982-1983.

Education and Other
JD University of Chicago Law School 1982.

BA Amherst College 1978. Magna cum Laude.

Co-author of Kahn and Links, California Practice Guide: Civil Rights Litigation published by Thomson West.

Member of the Board of Advisors of The Green Bag Second, an iconoclastic legal journal published by George Mason University Law School, 2008-2015. In 2017 selected to be among six judges nationally to identify and write about the exemplary judicial decisions of each year published in the Green Bag Almanac & Reader issued annually.

Participated in California Judges Association trips to Oxford in 2006, Cambridge in 2014, and Nuremberg in 2015 (70th anniversary of the War Crimes trials).

In 2022 organized an approximately 100 person 5-day event for family members from numerous countries based in the cigar factory owned our common ancestors in Heilbronn, Germany which had been relinquished in 1938 due to Nazi laws.

Member of the Lawyers Club of San Francisco Inn of Court, 2021 to the present.

Married to Lisa Ludwig Kahn since 1985. Two adult sons: William and Robert.

Education

J.D., University of Chicago Law School

B.A., magna cum laude, Amherst College