Kahn has demonstrated tireless devotion to that cause through his leadership, since 2001, of the body of Law School alumni and friends that closely advises Dean Katharine Bartlett. “Peter has been an absolutely reliable advisor and chair of the Board of Visitors. There is not an issue of importance to the Law School to which he has not added value,” says Bartlett.

In his last year as chair – his term ends June 30 – Kahn has worked tirelessly to find Bartlett’s replacement as a member of the Dean Search Committee, whose efforts resulted in the appointment of The Honorable David F. Levi as the next Law School dean.

“In a process that went on for eight months, being at times more like a marathon than a search, Peter was absolutely resilient,” says Professor James Cox who headed the Committee. “He drew upon the rich array of contacts his law firm has enjoyed to get leads on possible candidates and to reference candidates already in the pool. But his real contribution was his wisdom and judgment which, in the end, paid out great dividends for Duke.”

A partner at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., with an active international litigation practice, Kahn expresses enormous pride in the many ways the Law School has advanced in recent years: its depth of faculty hires and cementing of top-level strength in strategic areas of legal scholarship; the strength of its interdisciplinary ties to other Duke programs and schools; its almost complete physical transformation; the increasing placement of graduates in significant clerkships; the growth of the international and clinical programs; and the strength of its reputation with members of the bench and bar, to name just a few.

Kahn is passionate about the need for lawyers to function as leaders in their practices, in business, and in their communities, and he is delighted the Law School has made leadership and ethics a foundation of legal education through the Duke Blueprint to LEAD. “A leader, in my mind, is one who is able to make the hard decisions, dealing with all aspects of the problem and bring out the best in people to help make those difficult decisions,” Kahn says. Lawyers are no longer just counselors and advisors, but often the actual decision-makers. We need to be able to bring many resources to bear on a problem and be comfortable in the multi-faceted arenas lawyers now play in, such as business, public policy, and politics, and we need to know how to work in teams with lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

Kahn has been the “quintessential chair” for the Board, says member Buck Ferguson ’70. “His leadership style is very diplomatic, [focused on] building consensus, respectful, and dedicated. He and ‘Dean Kate’ have been a wonderful team that has worked in synch to achieve many important goals.” Ferguson particularly praises Kahn’s focus on Duke’s international presence by holding regular Board meetings in foreign locations where there is a cluster of international alumni.

“We need to show our international alumni that they are important to us. As the world grows smaller, it is important for all Duke alumni to connect on a personal and professional basis,” says Kahn of the meetings held in Geneva in 2003 and Beijing in 2005; a third is planned for Munich in 2008. The trips abroad have also allowed the Board to connect with the Law School’s summer institutes and offered “fabulous” opportunities for BOV members to bond, Kahn adds.

“We come from all parts of the country, we don’t practice law together, and we meet twice each year in Durham. These trips give us a chance to spend quality time together and to develop the trust and confidence in our colleagues that is essential for an effective advisory board.” Kahn adds that his involvement with the BOV has led him to establish deep personal friendships with alumni, faculty, and administrators he would otherwise not have had the opportunity to meet.

Generous with his resources as well as his time, Kahn, his wife Debbie, and children Alyssa T’09 and Jake, have supported the Law School in a number of key ways, dedicating a faculty office in the new wing, and supporting both the Annual Fund and the Distinguished Speaker Series, an effort that brings prominent leaders and thinkers to Duke. The Kahns have also recently revised their estate plans to include a gift for the Kahn Family Scholarship Fund for the Law School, transforming a scholarship they initially funded in 2006 as part of Duke’s Financial Aid Initiative. It’s in this area of planned giving that Kahn sees a job left undone – and where he issues a challenge to all of his colleagues on the Board of Visitors.

“We need 100 percent BOV participation in the Heritage Society,” Kahn says. “Planned giving from a broad base of alumni can serve as a much needed annuity for the Law School. If we want others to join in, the signal has to come from the top – from the Board – to put their money where their hearts are. And Duke Law School is a more than deserving institution.”