Milwaukee attorney Steve Kohn represented some of the highest profile defendants in Wisconsin. He died at age 71

The courtroom was a stage and the judge and jury were the audience for Steve Kohn. With a deep baritone voice and “stylish” suits, he had the undivided attention of those in the room. He was “surgical” in his approach to cross-examining witnesses.

“He had a command and presence in the courtroom. You knew who was in control of that courtroom,” said Jonathan Smith, Kohn’s longtime legal partner in Milwaukee. “And it was him.”

On Saturday, at age 71, Kohn died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago from medical complications after he was diagnosed with cancer six years ago.

For 40 years, Kohn represented police officers, judges, killers and the innocent.

“He displayed some photos of guys whom he previously represented, would send a picture of their wedding ... he proudly displayed those in his office,” Smith said.

His wife, former Milwaukee TV reporter Colleen Henry, said Kohn believed all deserved equal treatment in the eyes of the law.

“He represented police officers, and he would take heat from people in the community who thought, ‘How could you defend those people?’ And then he’d represent people who killed police officers, and police officers would be so angry at him, ‘How could you represent that guy?’” Henry said. “To him, the most important thing was everybody got a fair shot and recognizing that historically that hasn’t been the case in many places in America and certainly not in Milwaukee.”

Moving during childhood

Kohn grew up in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. Henry said Kohn felt like “the odd man out” whenever his family moved.

“He wanted to be a lawyer because he understood what it was like to face a scary situation without anybody to hold your hand,” Henry said. “People who are in trouble, whether they’re innocent or guilty, are very often ... very alone. I think in some ways he was able to relate to that and make them feel better on the worst days of their lives.”

Kohn got his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Northern Iowa and his law degree from the University of Puget Sound, now part of the Seattle University School of Law.

In 1977 he came to Milwaukee and started the law firm that is now Kohn & Smith.

He won his first two homicide cases and the judge told him: "What you've done is a big deal. Don't let it go to your head. Lawyers who believe they are special are the ones who never make it."

In 2001, Smith joined the firm because he was drawn to Kohn’s style as an attorney, and they became friends. Every Friday evening, they played cribbage in the office.

“We generated a lot of business that way because I think we were the only ones answering the phone at 4:30 on a Friday,” Smith said.

High-profile clients include Jeffrey Dahmer killer Christopher Scarver

Kohn worked his way up to a legal level where high-profile defendants came to him for representation.

For example, Kohn represented Christopher Scarver, who killed Jeffrey Dahmer in prison in 1994, and Chai Vang, who shot eight people, killing six, while deer hunting in northern Wisconsin in 2004.

He also successfully defended Daniel Masarik, a Milwaukee police officer who was accused of being part of a group of officers that beat Frank Jude Jr. in 2004.

Smith remembers Kohn’s closing argument for that case; he bought a trash can and brought it into the courtroom. In front of the judge and jury he held up the paper testimony of the witnesses and disputed them with the facts.

“He crumpled up a piece of paper and said ‘This is garbage.’ And threw it in the trash can,” Smith said. “He did it for witness after witness.”

He ended his closing argument with the line — “Now it’s time to take out the trash”

“And he picked up the trash can and walked right out the back of the courtroom,” Smith said. “And he didn’t come back.”

The judge was stunned, Smith said.

Kohn and Smith put the trash can in the office with a plaque that reads “trash can of justice.”

Marrying Colleen Henry

Henry was no stranger to lawyers and courtrooms. As a longtime reporter for WISN (Channel 12) she spent a lot of time covering the justice system and even tried to get a comment from one of Kohn’s clients.

He got between the microphone and the client and issued a dreaded “no comment,” before the two knew each other well.

Henry remembers listening to Kohn while covering the Scarver case and listened to him address the court with flattering language. She thought he was trying to get on the judge’s good side.

“It was kind of over-the-top-sucking up, this was my perspective at the time,” Henry said. “And then at a certain point he turned back, was looking at his partner and he had this little twinkle in his eye ... then I thought, ‘Oh my God, this guy’s hilarious. He’s an actor.’ He had quite a way in a courtroom.”

In 2000, Kohn and Henry connected at a going-away party for a WISN colleague, and she thought he was “the cutest guy ever.”

When he heard what she thought, he approached her and she “ran away.”

Eventually, he convinced her to go out with him for a glass of wine and they dated on and off for about four years.

Although they were technically broken up at the time, Kohn called Henry and needed to see her in person. She was staying at a house in Michigan for the Fourth of July and he drove for hours to see her and proposed on the driveway.

“He had a revelation that the problem was that he should just marry me,” Henry said.

The couple got married Jan. 1, 2005.

“He was a great foil for me,” Henry said. “He was very protective in the sense that I had a job and I had to get in people’s faces all the time, but that is not my personality at all. I tend to be very shy ... (he) was really able to help me finesse some of my shyness in social situations. He was sweet that way.”

Diagnosed with cancer, moving to Mexico

In 2017 Kohn was diagnosed with liposarcoma, cancer in his lung causing one of his lungs to be removed.

“I think they thought he would probably live another year or two, so it was pretty amazing,” Henry said.

In 2018 the couple retired together, sold everything they had in Milwaukee and split time between a home in Mexico and a home in Chicago, where Henry is from.

“He had no anxiety about moving to Mexico, I tend to be a more anxious person,” Henry said. “And he’s like, ‘This is an adventure. And when we get there we’ll figure out if we want to move back to Milwaukee or to Chicago.’”

Henry said he loved being around people and creating new relationships.

“He accumulated people and friendships, not things,” Henry said.

Kohn is survived by Henry, his sons from a previous marriage Christopher (Hallie) and Andrew (Jeni) and grandsons Oliver and Marlon. A private gathering will be planned at a future date.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee attorney Steve Kohn defended high profile clients