Abstract
Doug Kahn has a booming laugh and an infectious enthusiasm for his subject. I am one of the legions of students who were infected by the tax bug—thanks to Doug. It is appropriate that, on the occasion of his retirement, some of us who were most infected reflect on Doug’s influence in our lives. In my case this is easy. I owe the basic contours of my career to Doug. I graduated from Michigan Law in 1974. Times were different then. I graduated never having had a female instructor. There were no women on the faculty. Only thirteen percent of the members of the class of 1974 were women, up from nine percent for the class of 1973. Although law firms and law schools of course interviewed job candidates, they relied enormously, and far more than they are allowed to do today, on recommendations from trusted faculty friends as the basis for choosing who to interview. It was very much the day of the old boys’ network (OBN).