Dan Kahan
Yale Law School
Dan Kahan is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law at Yale Law School where he served as Deputy Dean from 2005-07. In addition to risk perception, his areas of research include criminal law and evidence. Prior to coming to Yale in 1999, Dean Kahan was on the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School. He also served as a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court (1990-91) and to Judge Harry Edwards of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1989-90). He received his B.A. from Middlebury College and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as President of the Harvard Law Review.
Dan Kahan On Law Preview . . .
Why do you teach for Law Preview?
I need a summer teaching fix and the excitement of incoming law students always revs me up!
Why is Law Preview better than other modes of preparing for law school?
Law Preview is best because of its philosophy: teach a law student how to fish for the basic logic of law school courses and she'll always reel in an A.
Dan Kahan On Law School . . .
What is the most important skill law students lack when they begin law school that Law Preview teaches?
Law Preview teaches students what the recurring, underlying logic of law school courses consists in!
What are your favorite study aids for the subject-matter you teach at Law Preview?
My own law review articles.
What is your favorite fiction/non-fiction book for the subject-matter you teach at Law Preview?
Anatomy of a Murder.
What is your favorite casebook for the subject-matter you teach at Law Preview?
Kahan, Katyal & Meares, Criminal Law.
What's your favorite thing about teaching the law?
Not having to practice it!
Dan Kahan On Life . . .
What organization are you most proud to have been a part of in law school?
The Antifederalist Society.
What person in the legal profession do you most admire?
Thurgood Marshall.
If you weren't teaching at your school, what would your "other dream job" be?
Teaching at the 2nd best law school in the country.
What are the best/worst things about your job?
Best: Getting to talk about the issues that excite me with smart and energetic people who are eager to learn. Worst: Faculty meetings.
How do you relax?
Running marathons; playing poker.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Don't lick a street light pole when it's below 20 degrees outside.
What's the invention you'd most like to see introduced?
telekineticphototransponder.
What is your favorite quote or saying?
"Freedom is willing necessity." - F. Engels
