Joel Cohen

February 03, 2009 | New Jersey Law Journal

As we continue to monitor what happens to Madoff, commentators must resist getting swept up in the public outcry against Madoff and explain the time-honored procedures of the criminal justice system.

By Joel Cohen

5 minute read

April 17, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Joel Cohen, a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and adjunct professor of law at Fordham Law School, writes: Popularized nowadays in the legal culture is the "noisy withdrawal" - a circumstance when a lawyer feels compelled to go public because his client, typically a public corporation, appears to have violated the law. The less popularized "quiet withdrawal," on the other hand, is when an attorney is uncompromising on his ethical responsibilities and chooses the better part of valor by opting to go to his grave with the true reason why he and his client went their separate ways - irrespective of whose decision it was.

By Joel Cohen

15 minute read

February 01, 2008 | New Jersey Law Journal

Given the protocol George Mitchell chose in his report on illegal drug use by Major League Baseball players, there may be innocent victims whose protestations will be heard but, in most cases, not believed.

By Joel Cohen and Bennett L. Gershman

5 minute read

June 27, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Joel Cohen, who practices at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and teaches as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School, writes that anyone who undertakes a self-help remedy must exercise extreme caution. Consulting counsel, who in good faith gives the go-ahead, might set up a "reliance on counsel" defense if and when the authorities come a-knocking. But reliance on counsel will only work where counsel is presented with all the facts.

By Joel Cohen

12 minute read

August 24, 2009 | Law.com

Every now and again, one encounters a lawsuit so silly on its face -- so transparently ridiculous -- it makes one wonder if the justice system fails us by allowing it to even get filed, let alone litigated, write Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm. Case in point: the lawsuit brought by an individual claiming to be the "love child" of the late President John F. Kennedy and actress Marilyn Monroe.

By Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm

11 minute read

December 30, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Joel Cohen, a partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, writes: Kwame Kilpatrick, a young attorney, seemed to have it all. He is the son of a prominent U.S. Congresswoman; and after his leading the Michigan Legislature, he was elected mayor of Detroit at the tender age of 31, well on his way to political stardom - although ultimately to jail on a number of felony charges. But since this article concerns the lawyers' ethics, where do the lawyers enter the fray, and where do their ethical lapses begin?

By Joel Cohen

14 minute read

October 04, 2010 | Law.com

After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated the Stolen Valor Act as being unconstitutional under the First Amendment, bloggers and pundits quickly whittled down the ruling as having upheld a so-called "constitutional right to lie." In fact, write columnists Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm, the pundits are not so far off. Cohen and Helm review the wisdom -- or lack thereof -- of criminalizing false statements of fact.

By Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm

10 minute read

June 25, 2008 | New Jersey Law Journal

Blaming the acquittal of three police officers for killing Sean Bell in Queens, N.Y., on prosecutorial ineptness is misdirected. It ignores crucial considerations that no fair-minded prosecutor could avoid.

By Bennett L. Gershman and Joel Cohen

5 minute read

April 05, 2010 | Law.com

Joel Cohen and Katherine Helm, finding themselves awash in announcements of lectures and public appearances by notable "formers" such as Lynne Stewart, Eliot Spitzer and Rod Blagojevich, raise these questions: Unshackled from the rules of evidence and impeachability, when should someone be discredited based on what he or she may have done in the past? If judging information involves judging values, at what point must lawyers themselves stand up and demand that speakers be scrupulous and practice what they preach?

By Joel Cohen and Katherine A. Helm

10 minute read

June 20, 2005 | New York Law Journal

Joel Cohen, who teaches professional responsibility as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School, writes about a recent experience as a CLE panelist.

By Joel Cohen

11 minute read