Biography

Judicial Activities

Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 2001-present. Appointed by Governor Gray Davis Current term expires December 2020. Assignments included presiding over all aspects of civil, criminal and family law cases, as well as drug court, criminal domestic violence court and civil domestic violence court. 

From January 2015 to the present assigned to civil trials. In February and March 2015 presided over the Pao v. Kleiner Perkins trial, which received daily national publicity. Handling numerous cases as a single assignment judge.

From October 2011 to January 2013 assigned as the sole judge to handle all law and motion and discovery matters in all civil cases other than asbestos, housing and singly-assigned cases. Established the Court’s discovery pro tem program.

From January 2010 through September 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 600 cases, resulting in the first time in almost two decades that the Court was current with its asbestos cases.

Chair of the Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee to the California Judicial Council, 2007-2010. Appointed by California Chief Justice Ronald George.

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.

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.

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 West.

Member of the Board of Advisors of The Green Bag, an iconoclastic legal journal published by George Mason University Law School, 2008-2015.