Joel Cohen

April 13, 2021 | New York Law Journal

No statute or case law legally compels a balanced presentation—as if the prosecutor had a dual personality or had mixed emotions over whether she really wants the grand jury to indict. He virtually always, if not always, wants to indict. The recent Rochester grand jury investigation by New York's Attorney General that resulted in a no true bill against seven police officers regarding the death of Daniel Prude raises the issue squarely, which Joel Cohen explores in this edition of his Ethics and Criminal Practice column.

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read

April 06, 2021 | New York Law Journal

A jury empaneled will decide the case—ostensibly on the merits alone. Or will it really?

By Joel Cohen

11 minute read

March 30, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Can the organized bar (that essentially speaks for us), in whatever venue applicable to Powell's status as an attorney, afford to let this particular one go?

By Joel Cohen

7 minute read

March 22, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Prosecutorial discretion—the valuable practice of prosecutors often using their discretion to decline cases—suggests that there is no "criminal" case worth pursuing regarding the nursing homes.

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read

March 15, 2021 | New York Law Journal

In an understandable effort to gain transparency regarding who is subsidizing controversial litigations, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

By Joel Cohen

8 minute read

February 17, 2021 | New York Law Journal

If you want the views of a judge who has seriously studied the issues and can give you his objective views, leaving his self-applause in the cloak room, read this book.

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read

February 12, 2021 | National Law Journal

Steve Bannon's case should underscore, in an oblique way, that beating a case in a suspect manner in one jurisdiction might just create the opportunity for a different battle in another.

By Joel Cohen and Daniel R. Alonso

7 minute read

February 08, 2021 | New York Law Journal

In his Ethics and Criminal Practice column, Joel Cohen uses the Paul Manafort pardoning case as a backdrop to discuss the issue of how a cooperator's lawyer should/must conduct herself. He concludes: "The principal rule of engagement on this subject should be simple: is the disclosure in the best interests of that particular client?"

By Joel Cohen

9 minute read

February 01, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Does the answer lie in airing both sides—"more speech" representing an antidote to hate speech?

By Joel Cohen

5 minute read

January 11, 2021 | New York Law Journal

Lawyers are differently obligated to the bar and their clients in ways and by regimens that may seem counterintuitive to the rest of the world. The willingness or even enthusiasm for lawyers to go out of their way to protect their backsides when conduct by the client has gone awry should never be their default position.

By Joel Cohen

6 minute read