Joel Cohen

September 09, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Whether or not the conduct of McCarthy and Taylor Green should be criminally prosecuted or is even prosecutable as a practical matter, the Congress itself, as an institution, needs to address this conduct, both for now and the future, by publicly censuring those engaged.

By Joel Cohen

8 minute read

August 31, 2021 | New York Law Journal

"Maybe the judge was communicating to the defendant exactly what would happen if he violated any of the conditions of probation, some of which were specific to him. No matter the intent—the judge made an important impact on my client."

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

July 29, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Should any lawyer be faulted when she's been engaged to wage a lawsuit whose purpose is not to actually succeed with the case as pleaded, or even come close (which should be totally acceptable even to the most stringent of ethicists)—but, rather, to promote some other purpose important for the client by merely filing the lawsuit?

By Joel Cohen

7 minute read

July 15, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Secretly recording conversations or interviews is a dirty business, and it is almost never conducted by the government with the recording individual, whoever it is, having the best interests of the witness in mind.

By Joel Cohen

7 minute read

July 07, 2021 | New York Law Journal

So what about Giuliani? Why was he suspended from practice even before an evidentiary hearing, for doing what we want a lawyer to do? That is, being a zealous advocate willing to go to the wall and beyond for a client, impervious to the personal consequences—a lawyer willing to endanger his own reputation precisely because he believes in the client.

By Joel Cohen

7 minute read

June 16, 2021 | New York Law Journal

It's not, though, that the judge might be looking hither and thither for a case—or a way—to help repair a perceived injustice. Instead, it's typically about what a judge can and should do when faced with a case that affords her the opportunity to create that goodness, if you will, for the "wronged" litigant, and for those (similarly-situated) who might benefit from the judge's "idealistic" decision.

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

June 07, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Ethics and Criminal Practice columnist Joel Cohen discusses the duty of a lawyer who believes that a juror has lied and who strategizes to sit on the lie that demonstrates that the juror is biased against the criminal defendant—the lawyer intending to disclose it only if the verdict goes against his client.

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read

June 01, 2021 | New York Law Journal

When the general public refers to conduct that is fair, respectful and polite, we call it "sportsmanlike." Not "lawyerlike." Shouldn't we at the bar do what's necessary to change that?

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

April 28, 2021 | New York Law Journal

"A defense lawyer at trial even mentioning the Fifth Amendment in open court seems bizarre."

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

April 20, 2021 | New York Law Journal

How do changes in social values manifest today?

By Joel Cohen

8 minute read