Bill Kahn
If you’ve ever been a soccer coach, or coached for any competitive sport, you’ll know how gratifying it is to see even small achievements. Bill Kahn is coach for high school Mock Trial teams but he didn’t start out coaching.
After working as a litigator in downtown Los Angeles for a few years, and becoming disillusioned about law as a career, Bill decided to travel. “One day I was looking for a different job and the next, I was setting out on a three and a half year backpacking trip that would take me twice around the globe to some 50 countries.”
Six months into the trip and thinking of returning but not having a job or career path, he had a so-called epiphany, a revelation that changed his life. “I was on a 36-hour train ride from Hyderabad to New Delhi when I suddenly realized what kind of a job would make me happy. First, I wanted to help people and second, I wanted to be the center of attention!” That led to teaching.
Bill already had a degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania, so all he had to do when he returned was to enroll in Columbia University’s Teachers College to get his Master’s in Education and then decide where he wanted to teach.
New York City was the clear choice because it was eminently ‘walkable’. (Bill has led many tours of city neighborhoods for Good Neighbors and others.) After monitoring classes in 16 different schools, he selected Brooklyn Technical High School. Originally an engineering school, Brooklyn Tech is now more broad-based, with a ‘major’ for upper class students in Law and Society. Bill taught criminal, civil and constitutional law, along with other classes, for over 20 years.
At Brooklyn Tech, Bill started coaching the extracurricular Mock Trial team. Students act as lawyers and witnesses, trying a hypothetical case in an after-school tournament. Each Mock Trial team has a minimum of 12 students, six for the plaintiff’s side and six for the defense. The tournament is run by the New York State Bar Association. The statewide competition starts in December and finishes with a championship trial in Albany in May. Over 100 schools participate in New York City alone, with a similar number on Long Island and also upstate. Bill has taken the Brooklyn Tech team to the championship trial in Albany after it won the competition in New York City.
“Being a coach for these kids enriched my life in no small measure,” Bill says. “My wife, Clarissa, and I don’t have any children of our own. Watching these kids as they mature and go on to be successful in different fields is like being a surrogate parent. Twice a year, we host a reunion for over a dozen former students and they have become good friends. Five have become lawyers in various fields. Two are even clerking for federal judges.”
Students gain confidence and improve their ability to speak in public. “They present arguments in discussions and learn to strategize.” These skills are useful in life in general, not just law. “For some it’s a life-changing, eye-opening experience. Some have never been away from home before or stayed in a hotel. I remember one boy saying to me, as he looked at the soap and shampoo in the bathroom and the coffee maker on the table, ‘Bill, I have a question. Can we use those things?’
Bill retired from full time teaching in 2016 but continues to coach two other Mock Trial teams. He is a Good Neighbors board member, the go-person for organizing Good Neighbors group visits to sports events, among other things, and a big supporter of Beers In Brooklyn. He and his wife lived in lower Manhattan for many years, then moved to Brooklyn in 2018. They have two cats.
Could GNPS members become coaches in this after-school program? Bill says that the most useful coaches have some legal background, but it’s not essential. In some cases, students run their own program but need an adult in the room for legal purposes. And volunteering need not be a long-term commitment. “Sometimes the best use of a volunteer is as a ‘fresh set of ears’ to hear an argument made by a student and give them feedback,” Bill explained.
“Please consider becoming involved. I promise you, there is nothing like it.”