After 20 years as a partner in the Litigation Department, Anne Cohen is now a retired partner. Her wide-ranging practice focused on complex tort litigation as well as internal investigations, on which she teaches a seminar at Columbia Law School.
In the mass tort area, Ms. Cohen has represented defendants in firearms, Agent Orange, smoking and health, toxic shock syndrome, pharmaceutical and asbestos matters. A former member of the Product Liability Advisory Council (PLAC) Board of Directors, Ms. Cohen has in-depth experience in the litigation of class actions and other aggregated claims.
As part of the Firm’s preeminent internal investigations practice, Ms. Cohen was a senior member of the Debevoise team working on behalf of the Compliance Committee of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG. The firm’s intense two-year effort was described by U.S. prosecutors and regulators as a key to the swift and ground-breaking resolution on FCPA claims against the German engineering company.
Ms. Cohen is a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, where she teaches a seminar on Internal Investigations, and is also a member of the Dean’s Council. She frequently publishes and speaks on complex and mass tort litigation. She is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, American Law Institute, American Bar Association, Defense Research Institute, Federal Bar Council, Economic Club of New York, and, until her retirement, of PLAC’s Case Selection Committee.
A longtime member of the Board of Citymeals-on-Wheels, Ms. Cohen has been the organization’s co-president since July 1, 2009. She is also a member of the boards of the American Council on Germany and the Asian Women’s Leadership University Project.
Prior to practicing law, Ms. Cohen was a reporter for the Cincinnati Post. She joined Debevoise in 1986 and became a partner in 1993. She received her A.B. from Smith in 1976 and an M.S.L. from Yale Law School in 1982, where she studied for a year as a Ford Foundation fellow while on leave from the Post. In 1985, she received her J.D. from Columbia, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an articles editor of the Columbia Law Review. Before joining Debevoise, Ms. Cohen was a law clerk for the Hon. Richard S. Arnold, US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
In 2005, she was a participant in the 69th Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, run by the Department of Defense. She and her Bichon/Cavalier Ralph are certified as a therapy dog team by the Good Dog Foundation.