Tax Prof Lily Kahng Retires After 23 Years At Seattle

Seattle Law School, Celebrating Retiring and Departing Faculty Members:

[Lily] Kahng retired after spending 23 years at the law school. A nationally-recognized expert in tax law, she has taught courses on federal income taxation, corporate taxation, partnership taxation, and tax policy, among others. Her research interests include taxation of women and families, tax administration, comparative tax, and critical tax theory. She was drawn to tax law because of how pervasive it is in society, touching most every aspect of peoples’ lives.

“This law school has felt like my home. I have felt so welcomed and supported. I will definitely miss the students. I so appreciated all of the enthusiasm and energy and optimism that they bring. I really feel like it has been a joy and a privilege to teach them,” Kahng said.

She added that she is most proud of her students. “I feel like I’ve been able to open their eyes to this one area of law that most of them are scared of, intimidated by, or not particularly drawn to.”

Before joining Seattle University faculty in 2001, she was an associate professor at Cornell Law School and served as an attorney advisor in the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. From 1991-93, she was an acting assistant professor at New York University Law School. She began her legal career in as an associate at the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and then was a vice president of mergers and acquisitions at the investment bank of Salomon Brothers, New York.

In retirement, she plans to stay in Seattle and pursue a variety of volunteer opportunities with area nonprofits.