Joel M. Cohen is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He is a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation, White Collar Defense and Investigations, Securities Litigation, and Antitrust Practice Groups.
Mr. Cohen, a former federal prosecutor and experienced trial lawyer, focuses his practice on white collar, regulatory, securities and commercial litigation, and internal investigations. He has led or participated in over two dozen criminal and civil trials in federal and state courts. Mr. Cohen has extensive experience in securities and financial institution litigation, class actions, product liability, market manipulation, anti-corruption, money laundering, and forfeiture, with a particular focus on international disputes and discovery.
Mr. Cohen has successfully participated in some of the most high-profile matters in the United States, including the summary judgment obtained for Citi in a class action seeking over $13 billion in damages for its alleged role in the Parmalat collapse. Mr. Cohen co-tried a seven-week jury trial for AllianceBernstein in which the Florida state pension fund attempted to recover $3.2 billion in losses sustained in Enron and other stocks, and successfully defended the same client in other significant Enron-related litigations, one of which resulted in an award of attorney's fees and costs for his client. He is the lead attorney for Wynnefield Capital in the defense against an SEC insider trading action. Mr. Cohen recently convinced the SEC to decline prosecution of a major accounting firm for alleged violations of the auditor independence rules. He has designed global anti-corruption programs for banks, advised clients in sensitive corruption investigations, and has represented oil and gas companies in two significant FCPA enforcement matters. He has represented audit and special committees of public companies and private company boards of directors in connection with allegations of wrongdoing. He also has represented, including at trial, tobacco and firearms producers in product liability actions and counsels individuals and entities in a broad range of federal and state criminal, regulatory, and international issues.
Mr. Cohen previously was the Head of the U.S. Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice at Clifford Chance, where he practiced from 2004 to 2009. From 1999 to 2004, he practiced with Greenberg Traurig. From 1992 to 1999, he served as Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, supervising the Business/Securities Fraud Unit, where he received numerous awards from the Department of Justice and law enforcement agencies. His efforts in one celebrated investigation are the focus of a motion picture about to be directed by Martin Scorsese. He was an adviser to OECD in connection with the effort to prohibit corruption in international transactions and was the first Department of Justice legal liaison advisor to the French Ministry of Justice. Mr. Cohen has published several articles on securities, international and white-collar litigation issues and has been a presenter and chair at many professional conferences. He is also a frequent commentator in print and television media. In 2009 and 2010, Mr. Cohen was named a "Litigation Star" by Benchmark Litigation, and his work is noted by Legal 500 in the areas of white collar criminal defense and securities litigation.
Mr. Cohen received his Bachelors degree from Middlebury College, his Masters degree in History from Duke University and his Juris Doctor from Duke University Law School, where he was a moot court champion. He is a member of the bars of New York and Massachusetts.