Harriet Newman Cohen is a founding partner of Cohen Rabin Stine Schumann LLP, a matrimonial and family law firm consisting of seven outstanding family law attorneys.
Ms. Cohen has been awarded the AV rating by Martindale and Hubbell, the nationally recognized legal directory, signifying the highest rating for legal ability and professional standards of conduct and ethics, throughout her professional career. Ms. Cohen has also been selected as one of the TOP 50 female lawyers whose name appeared on the 2010 and 2009 NY Metro Super Lawyers listing of TOP lawyers. The criteria include being one of "the women lawyers who received the highest point totals in the 2010 and 2009 New York Super Lawyers-Metro Edition nomination, research and blue ribbon review process." In addition, Ms. Cohen was selected as one of the TOP 100 2010 NY Metro Super Lawyers, based on the same criteria, and she was the subject of a feature profile written by Michael Y. Park for New York Super Lawyers, 2008, entitled, "The Second Life of Harriet Cohen, What the Matrimonial Lawyer Learned to Share with the World."
A graduate of Barnard College (B.A.), Bryn Mawr College (M.A.) and Brooklyn Law School (J.D. cum laude), Ms. Cohen, when at law school, was an editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. Ms. Cohen has been sought out for her legal expertise and services in complex matrimonial and family law negotiations and litigations throughout her stellar career. Her book on divorce, "The Divorce Book for Men and Women: A Step-By-Step Guide to Gaining Your Freedom Without Losing Everything Else," was published by Avon Publishers, New York City, in July 1994. She was also the co-author of, "Valuation of Property in Marital Dissolutions," XXIII ABA Fam. L.Q.2, Summer 1989, and she writes regular analyses and articles for the edification of bench, bar and lay persons, including a yearly article on matrimonial and family law for the New York Law Journal special Matrimonial Section.
Ms. Cohen was selected by Governor Mario Cuomo of New York State to serve on the Child Support Commission of the State of New York and by Mayor David Dinkins of New York City to serve on the Foster Care Commission of the City of New York. Ms. Cohen served as President of the New York Women's Bar Association, as has her partner, Gretchen Beall Schumann. Ms. Cohen has been a member of the Committee on Matrimonial Law of the New York City Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers' Association, the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, among other committees and bar associations. Ms. Cohen, who has taught CLE courses, has been a panelist at annual ABA Family Law Meetings as well as a featured speaker for other professional and bar associations and groups. Ms. Cohen has sat on judicial screening panels including for the highest court of New York State, the Court of Appeals, a court in which Ms. Cohen has also appeared and argued successfully. Ms. Cohen has been invited to and has testified before legislative committees on divorce reform as a result of her expertise in divorce and family law.
Ms. Cohen is a frequent commentator on television and radio and in the print media. Among other profiles, she was profiled in an article by James Barron in the Sunday, August 15, 1993, New York Times Business Section, on page one, as a successful, committed divorce lawyer. Ms. Cohen has been invited to and has written an annual feature article for the Special Matrimonial Section of the New York Law Journal, including 2010, on family law subjects.
Prior to founding Cohen Rabin Stine Schumann LLP on January 1, 2011, Ms. Cohen was a founding member of Cohen Hennessey Bienstock & Rabin P.C. (formerly known as Cohen Hennessey & Bienstock P.C., which she founded in 1994). Before that, Ms. Cohen was the head of several matrimonial departments of prominent Manhattan law firms.
Ms. Cohen represents high income individuals and celebrities, but, at the same time, does not turn away other worthy clients or court appointments as, for example, attorney for the child in deserving cases.
Ms. Cohen is committed to the practice of law in the finest tradition, zealously representing the clients she accepts as well as making herself available to promote reform in the law by sharing her knowledge and experience in the law with the Governor, the Legislature and the Courts.
Publications:
The Second Life of Harriet Cohen, Park, Michael Y. New York Super Lawyers 2008 - Metro, September 2008
What's Equitable When Distributing Businesses, Enhanced Earning Capacity? New York Law Journal Family Law, August 9, 2010
Needs of Children, Snapshot, Not Movie, Letter to the Editor, New York Law Journal, August 26, 2009
Downward Modification In A Troubled Economy, New York Law Journal, August 10, 2009
Egregious To a Fault, New York Law Journal, July 28, 2008
The Alienated Child, New York Law Journal, July 30, 2007
To Have or Have Not (a Prenuptial Agreement)?, New York Law Journal, August 7, 2006
When Custody is Truly Contested, Who Decides Best Interests?, New York Law Journal, June 6, 2005
Equating 'Best' With 'Only' in Interstate Custody Cases Under the UCCJEA, New York Law Journal, June 7, 2004
Limiting Discovery in Custody Cases, New York Law Journal, July 14, 2003
Is 'Braiman' Still Vital After 24 Years?, New York Law Journal, July 15, 2002.