Joel Cohen

February 26, 2024 | New York Law Journal

A 26-year-old man allegedly kills a young woman in New York City. He flees to Maricopa County, Arizona to avoid his arrest and where several days later…

By Joel Cohen and Bennett L. Gershman

5 minute read

February 12, 2024 | New York Law Journal

In this article, Joel Cohen analyzes a case in the public eye that is still pending. It will hopefully provide a teachable moment in the context of an artificial intelligence mistake that many litigators may conceivably encounter.

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read

January 17, 2024 | New York Law Journal

A criminal defendant exposing himself as having suffered life-altering problems resulting from his wrongdoing can accomplish "general deterrence" more effectively than might any prosecutor or judge who merely gives a lecture largely telling her audience the potential penalties for similar conduct.

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

December 21, 2023 | New York Law Journal

The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT and the lawyers who prepared them certainly recognized that they would be roasted by at least one or two members of the Congressional committee. And they were undoubtedly correct that hate speech on campus would depend on the "context" in which it was made, a Law Journal columnist writes. But would any intelligent, well-prepared, witness, even testifying truthfully, want to hand a loaded gun to her interrogator, enabling her to aggressively question her as U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik so ably did?

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read

December 11, 2023 | New York Law Journal

Public figures as diverse as Donald Trump and Sam Bankman-Fried, for example, have believed that "going public" will best bring them a soft landing. The 'Trump' case raises important questions about an attorney's ethical obligations when they propose to pursue one road, but the client wants another—potentially suicidal—path in a criminal case.

By Joel Cohen

7 minute read

November 13, 2023 | New York Law Journal

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik's ethics complaint against the judge presiding over Donald Trump's civil fraud trial in Manhattan is an attempt to undermine the court process by making a further public spectacle of their largely silly allegations, former members of the board for New York's judicial watchdog write.

By Joel Cohen and Richard Emery

5 minute read

November 01, 2023 | New York Law Journal

a lawyer who is presented by his client with a plan to commit a "future" crime can be compelled before a grand jury to give testimony against that client. The courts have long recognized the "crime fraud exception" to the privilege in such instances.

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

October 06, 2023 | New York Law Journal

In his Ethics and Criminal Practice column, Joel Cohen discusses the ethics regarding complex criminal investigations where a third party—the target of the investigation—pays their employees' legal fees as part of the inquiry.

By Joel Cohen

11 minute read

September 29, 2023 | New York Law Journal

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson will be called to testify at the most important trial in America about her unique act of heroism. And whether or not she told the prosecutors in advance her plan to write a book, or that she was already writing one, they simply lacked the ability to demand that she not, a Law Journal columnist writes.

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

August 24, 2023 | New York Law Journal

In his conversation with Sam Freedman, author of 'Into The Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights' Joel Cohen looks at how Freedman was able to present Humphrey as a hero, even as he's associated with the Vietnam war.

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read