Lawrence B. Cohen

Background

Lawrence Cohen was born in 1957 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, became the city in which his legal career developed, first at Palmer & Dodge and later at other firms based there.

Education

Cohen received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Wesleyan University. Wesleyan is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, founded in 1831.

He later earned a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, and he was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1982, the year he graduated. Georgetown Law was established in 1870 as the first law school founded by a Jesuit institution in the United States, and it is located in Washington, D.C., close to the U.S. Capitol.

Career

Cohen was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1982 and became a partner at Palmer & Dodge, a Boston law firm. At the time of its 2005 combination with Edwards & Angell, Palmer & Dodge had about 180 attorneys and was known for its public finance work and its representation of life sciences and technology companies. An earlier Boston firm, Palmer, Dodge, Gardner and Bradford, had Robert Gray Dodge as a senior partner.

In 2005 Palmer & Dodge merged with Edwards & Angell to form Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, which added a London-based firm, Kendall Freeman, in 2008 and merged with Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon in 2011 to form Edwards Wildman Palmer. Cohen was a partner there in its estate planning work. A lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court by Cohen and a colleague, Jay Rosenbaum, contended that they were forced out of their partnerships, that Cohen had been excluded from firm events, lost a leadership position, and had his pay cut, and that he left the firm in November.

Cohen later became a partner at Nixon Peabody, a firm formed in 1999 through the merger of Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle, which had begun in Rochester, New York, and Peabody & Brown, a Boston firm dating to 1854. Nixon Peabody is headquartered at 53 State Street in Boston. In its Private Clients practice group, Cohen provides wealth management, trustee, estate planning, and estate administration services to high-net-worth individuals, private foundations, and organizations, with a focus on trust administration, charitable planning, and business succession. He has also published articles in the Massachusetts Law Review, the National Law Review, and Trusts and Estates Magazine.

Religion

Cohen describes himself as an active member of Boston's Jewish community, and he serves on the board of directors of a congregation in Newton, Massachusetts. He also holds leadership roles in the Jewish National Fund, a Zionist organization founded in 1901 to acquire land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement.

Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions, rooted in the covenant between God and the Israelites and developed through the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, and rabbinic tradition. Jewish communities gather in synagogues for prayer, study, and communal life, and the tradition places strong emphasis on justice, charity, and responsibility toward others. Cohen's documented involvement centers on this communal and institutional life rather than on any published statement of theological belief.

Membership

Cohen is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a professional association of lawyers who practice in trusts and estates, founded in 1949. Alongside that professional affiliation, his community service includes a national board seat and a New England presidency in the Jewish National Fund, and service on the board of a Newton, Massachusetts congregation.

• American College of Trust and Estate Counsel

• New England President and National Board Member

  Jewish National Fund

• Member of the Board of Directors

  Temple Beth Avodah

Connections

Cohen is married to Laurie Hall, who was a partner in the estate planning group at Edwards Wildman Palmer, where Cohen was also a partner. Coverage of the Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit described both lawyers' professional connection to that firm.

Wife:

Laurie Hall

Partner in the estate planning group at Edwards Wildman Palmer, as reported in coverage of a lawsuit involving Cohen's departure from that firm.

References

• Nixon Peabody firm profile of Lawrence B. Cohen Firm profile describing his partnership in the Private Clients practice, his Massachusetts admission, his education, and his published articles.
• ABA Journal Reports on a lawsuit by two former partners at Edwards Wildman Palmer, including Cohen, who contended that they were forced out of the firm.
• Best Lawyers Profile of Lawrence B. Cohen as a trusts and estates attorney in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Super Lawyers Profile of Lawrence B. Cohen as an estate planning and probate attorney in Boston, licensed in Massachusetts since 1982.