Harold Kohn, the Philadelphia lawyer who was the architect of the modern-day class action, will be honored in memoriam this fall at Temple Law. On October 9, to mark what would have been Kohn’s 100th birthday, Temple will host a lecture sponsored by Kohn’s eponymous chaired professorship, and delivered by Delaware Chief Justice Leo E. Strine, Jr.
Harold Kohn “brought many cases to protect ordinary people and their rights against government and big corporations,” remembers former Temple Dean Robert J. Reinstein. “He was a remarkable man. Indeed, he is generally recognized as one of the most brilliant Philadelphia lawyers going back to Andrew Hamilton. I think his greatest accomplishment was being a principal creator of the modern class action. He turned [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23](b)(3) into . . . a powerful instrument in antitrust, securities and consumer cases. Harold was one of the first to understand that class certification was not merely a procedural device to consolidate individual claims but that it changed the entire nature of the litigation.“
Kohn became nationally famous for his innovative civil antitrust practice in the 1960s, famously (and successfully) suing firms ranging from electronics manufacturers to the timber industry.
Though known as the “grandfather of class actions,” Kohn also took on cases involving the First Amendment, privacy, zoning and commercial transactions.
Known as a titan of the Philadelphia Bar, Kohn was a member of Temple’s Board of Trustees and a generous donor to the Law School.
Len Barrack, Esq., LAW’ 68, one of Harold Kohn’s many protégés and a long-time colleague, credits Kohn with teaching him how to be a great lawyer. He cites Kohn as one of the great lawyers of the 20th century. The Kohn Chair was jointly endowed by the Barrack Foundation and the Kohn Foundation, co-directed by Kohn’s widow, Edith Kohn, and his son, Joseph C. Kohn.
Chief Justice Strine’s lecture, Regular (Judicial) Order As Equity: The Enduring Value Of The Distinct Judicial Role, will be published in the Temple Law Review. Professor Dave Hoffman and Greg Varallo, LAW ’83, an Executive Director of Richards, Layton & Finger, will comment. Professor Jonathan Lipson, named as the Harold E. Kohn professor in 2012, invited Chief Justice Strine to Temple “because the Chief Justice is one of the nation’s preeminent jurists, and, like Mr. Kohn, is concerned about issues of structural integrity and fairness.”
Kohn was devoted to many charitable causes. Apart from Temple’s Board of Trustees, he was chairman of the Board of Governors of Temple University Hospital, and was associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arronson and Lavine Foundations, the Federation of Jewish Agencies, the Philadelphia Geriatric Center, the Villanova Law School and Moss Rehabilitation Center.
More information about the lecture is available here. It is made possible through a generous gift from the Kohn Foundation.