Jerome A. Cohen

Mr. Cohen is Professor at New York University School of Law, Of Counsel in the international law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP and Senior Fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Cohen has special expertise in business and public law relating to Asia and has long represented companies and individuals in contract negotiations and dispute resolution in China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and other countries of East Asia.

Mr. Cohen formerly served as Jeremiah J. Smith Professor, Director of East Asian Legal Studies and Associate Dean at Harvard Law School. At New York University School of Law, he teaches courses on “Law and Society in China – The Criminal Process” and “International Business Transactions in China”. He has published several books including The Criminal Process in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-63, and People’s China and International Law and many articles on Chinese law as well as a general book, China Today, co-authored with his wife, Joan Lebold Cohen. In 1990 he published Investment Law and Practice in Vietnam.

Mr. Cohen was Visiting Professor of Law at Doshisha University in Kyoto in 1971-72 and Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong in 1979. The Cohens lived in Beijing during 1979-81, while Mr. Cohen took part in various trade and investment contract negotiations and taught a course on international business law, in the Chinese language, for Beijing officials. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of both the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission in Beijing; Chair of the China Advisory Committee for the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution; a Trustee of the China Institute in America; a Director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations; and a Trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He currently serves as Chair of the Asia Law Initiative Advisory Council for the American Bar Association and formerly has served as Chairman of the New York/Beijing Friendship Committee; a Trustee of The Asia Society, a Corporate Director of the Japan Society; Advisor to the Government of Sichuan Province, China; Chairman of the American Arbitration Association’s China Conciliation Committee; Vice Chair of the Advisory Council for The Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Joint Center in China and a member of the Board of Editors of both the China Quarterly and the American Journal of International Law. He continues to serve on the Advisory Board of Human Rights Watch-Asia. Mr. Cohen is also Director of the American Foreign Law Association and received the AFLA Distinguished Service Award in 2001. He was also awarded the 2000 Lifetime Service to Asian Legal Development Award.

Mr. Cohen is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale College (B.A. 1951). He spent the academic year 1951-52 as a Fulbright Scholar in France and was graduated in 1955 from Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal. He was Law Secretary to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court in 1955 Term and Law Secretary to Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court in 1956 Term. He subsequently practiced law, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and was consultant to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations before beginning an academic career at the University of California School of Law at Berkeley in 1959. He moved to Harvard Law School in 1964 and remained a faculty member there until he joined Paul, Weiss in 1981. He is a member of the bar in New York, Connecticut and the District of Columbia.

 

Adjunct Professor
New York University School of Law, New York, New York
(1990 to date)

Partner
Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (1981-to date)
1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019-6064

Senior Fellow
Council on Foreign Relations (1996 to date)
58 East 68th Street
New York, New York

 

Books, Author:

  • Investment Law and Practice in Vietnam, 1990
  • Contract Laws of the People’s Republic of China, 1988
  • China Today, 3rd ed. Co-author with Joan Lebold Cohen, 1986
  • People’s China and International Law, Co-author with Hungdah Chiu, 1974
  • Taiwan and American Policy, Co-author 1971
  • The Criminal Process in the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1963: An
    Introduction, 1968

Editor:

  • Contemporary Chinese Law, Research Problems and Perspectives, 1970
  • Essays on China’s Legal Tradition, 1980 Co-editor

Articles:

  • Over 100 dealing with China’s business law, human rights, legal institutions
    and related subjects

Professional Background:

  • Jeremiah Smith Professor of Law, Director of East Asian Legal Studies and Associate Dean, Harvard Law School, 1964-1981
  • Professor of Law, University of California (Berkeley) 1959-64
  • Consultant to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 1959
  • Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Columbia, 1958-59
  • Associate, Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C. 1957-58
  • Law Secretary for the U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren 1955-56 and under Justice Felix Frankfurter 1956-57
  • Admitted to Bar: 1955 Connecticut; 1957 District of Columbia; 1982 New York

Educational Background:

  • Yale University (A.B. 1951)
  • University of Lyon, France (Fulbright Scholar, 1951-52)
  • Yale University (J.D. 1955)

Honors:

  • Phi Beta Kappa; Order of Coif
  • Editor-in-Chief, Yale Law Journal, 1954-55
  • Recipient, with Hungdah Chiu, of American Society of International Law Prize for best documentary study on international law during 1973-74

Languages:

  • Chinese (Mandarin), French

Professional Activities:

  • Former Chairman, New York-Beijing Sister City Committee
  • Member, Arbitration Panel, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (Beijing); Arbitration Panel, China Securities Regulatory Commission (Beijing)
  • Former Chairman, China Conciliation Committee of the American Arbitration Association
  • Director, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
  • Former Advisor, Government of Sichuan Province, China
  • Former Trustee, Asia Society
  • Trustee, China Institute, 1998-present
  • Chairman, China Council of the Asia Society, 1975-77
  • Member, Board of Editors, American Journal of International Law, 1975-1980
  • Member, Board of Editors, China Quarterly, 1971-1986
  • Advisory Board Member, Human Rights Watch - Asia, 1991-present
  • Former Corporate Director, Japan Society
  • Former Vice-Chairman, Advisory Council for The Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Join Center in China