Donna Eden Cohen is an American lawyer whose career has combined private practice in Boston and Andover with public service as counsel to Massachusetts government. Admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1981, she later qualified for federal and United States Supreme Court practice and participated in professional, civic, cultural, and women’s-sports organizations.
Background
Donna Eden Cohen was born on October 23, 1956, in Harlingen, Texas, to Gerald Myer Cohen and Annette Rose Cohen. Her family background connected her with a legal profession that later included professional association with Gerald M. Cohen.
Her adult professional life developed primarily in Massachusetts, especially in Boston and Andover. Her interests have included sailing, volunteering, and aquaria, while her civic activities have included charitable, cultural, community, and sports-related organizations.
Education
Cohen attended the University of Hawaiʻi in 1976–1977 before completing a bachelor's degree at the University of Massachusetts in 1978. The University of Hawaiʻi began as a territorial land-grant college in 1907 and had developed into a major public institution serving the Pacific region by the time of her attendance. The University of Massachusetts, established as a university in 1947, was the principal public university system of Massachusetts during her undergraduate years.
She received a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1981. Founded in Boston in 1906 as an evening law school intended to widen access to legal education, Suffolk Law retained a strong connection with practical legal training and public service. Her legal education preceded admission to the Massachusetts bar and her entry into private and government practice.
Career
Cohen began her legal career in Massachusetts after admission to the Massachusetts bar in 1981. She became a partner of Gilman, McLaughlin & Hanrahan in Boston from 1981 to 1989 and again during 1989–1992, later serving as the firm's counsel from 1992. She also served as counsel to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Purchasing Agent in Boston in 1982.
From 1986, she was of counsel to the law practice of Gerald M. Cohen in Andover, Massachusetts. From 1993, she served as a special assistant attorney general in the Executive Bureau of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her professional admissions included the United States District Court for Massachusetts in 1982, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1982, and the Supreme Court of the United States in 1988.
Her work combined private legal practice with government counsel and public-sector legal service. Later public references also associate her with legal support for women in baseball and with civic and cultural organizations in the Boston area.
Religion
Cohen is Jewish. Judaism is an Abrahamic religious tradition rooted in the covenantal history of the Jewish people, the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic interpretation, communal practice, and ethical responsibility.
Her documented religious affiliation belongs to a tradition that has maintained a strong emphasis on learning, family and communal continuity, justice, charity, and the relationship between religious law and everyday life.
Politics
Cohen is identified with the Democratic Party, one of the two major political parties in the United States. The modern Democratic tradition has generally emphasized representative government, civil rights, social welfare, public institutions, and a larger governmental role in addressing economic and social concerns.
Views
Cohen's documented civic and professional activities reflect an emphasis on legal service, organizational participation, charitable volunteering, and support for women's opportunities in sports and public life.
Membership
Cohen's organizational participation extended beyond legal associations into public service, health advocacy, community administration, the arts, and sports. She served on the board of directors of the American Heart Association in Needham, was a trustee of Fisher Hill Estates Condominium, and participated in civic advisory work in Brookline.
Her cultural activities included leadership in the Boston Ballet Volunteer Association and service on the Boston Ballet board of overseers. Her legal affiliations included the American Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, New England Women in Real Estate, and Phi Delta Phi.
Served on the board of directors.
American Heart Association
,
United States
1983 - 1987
Served as a trustee.
Fisher Hill Estates Condominium
,
United States
1989 - 1993
Served as vice president.
Boston Ballet Volunteer Association
,
United States
Served as an appointed member.
Town of Brookline Economic Development Advisory Committee
,
United States
1995 - present
Served on the board of overseers.
Boston Ballet Board of Overseers
,
United States
1994 - present
American Bar Association
,
United States
Served as vice president of the Suffolk chapter.
Association of Trial Lawyers of America
,
United States
1979 - 1981
Participated in its mentor program.
Massachusetts Bar Association
,
United States
1992 - present
Boston Bar Association
,
United States
Lectured in continuing legal education seminars.
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys
,
United States
1982 - present
New England Women in Real Estate
,
United States
Phi Delta Phi
,
United States
Personality
Cohen has been described in public accounts connected with women's baseball as brilliant, generous, kind, and tireless in supporting women in sports.
Quotes from others about the person
Public accounts have described Cohen as a legal supporter and advocate for women in baseball, emphasizing her generosity, kindness, and persistence.
Interests
Sailing, volunteering, aquaria, ballet, and baseball.
Sport & Clubs
Baseball and the Boston Red Sox.
Connections
Cohen is the daughter of Gerald Myer Cohen and Annette Rose Cohen. Her professional connections include association with Gerald M. Cohen's law practice in Andover and with legal, civic, cultural, charitable, and sports organizations in Massachusetts.
