Carrie H. Cohen

Carrie Cohen is a partner with Morrison & Foerster in its Investigations + White Collar Defense Group where she co-chairs its Workplace Misconduct Task Force and routinely advises and represents corporations, boards and c-suite executives in sensitive investigative and regulatory matters and bet the company criminal and civil cases. Ms. Cohen is a former federal and state prosecutor with vast trial and investigation experience having served in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the New York State Attorney General’s Office. At the Southern District of New York, Ms. Cohen investigated and tried public corruption, investment fraud, and securities cases, including securing the conviction of Sheldon Silver, the longtime Speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption and money laundering charges. In the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Ms. Cohen served as Chief of the Public Integrity Unit in the Criminal Division, and as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau, receiving the Louis J. Lefkowitz Memorial Award for outstanding service. Prior to her government service, Ms. Cohen spent six years in private practice, including as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster.

Ms. Cohen is a bar association leader and regular speaker at white-collar and bar association programs. Among her many public service roles, Ms. Cohen has held numerous bar leadership positions, including serving as the past Vice President of the New York City Bar, chair of its Executive Committee, a member of its Nominating Committee, and former Chair of the Federal & Commercial Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association. Ms. Cohen currently serves on the Advisory Group to the New York Federal-State Judicial Council and the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Wrongful Convictions, as well as Chair of the Actual Innocence Subcommittee. Ms. Cohen also serves as a trustee of the Federal Bar Council, acting as chair of its 2018 Thanksgiving Luncheon and sitting on the Winter Bench & Bar Planning Committee. She is also a member of the American Inns of Court, the New York Chapter of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association, and the New York County Lawyers Association’s Plea Bargaining Task Force. She also serves as a panel attorney on the Board of Judges’ Committee on Grievances for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York. Ms. Cohen has also been a leader in advancing women in the legal profession both in the United States and globally. She co-authored the recent and acclaimed New York State Bar Association report recently adopted by the American Bar Association “If Not Now, When?: Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR” and currently serves as a member of the New York City Bar’s Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, where she spearheads a professional development program for women attorneys in Latin America and South Africa.

Ms. Cohen is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Representative Matters:

• Appointed by the United States Department of Justice to the Monitorship team in the criminal prosecution of Odebrecht for violations of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

• Represent a transportation company at trial in the Southern District of New York for a civil case brought by the New York State Attorney General’s Office and the City of New York alleging illegal transportation of untaxed cigarettes.

• Represent a privately held company in a class action in the Eastern District of New York alleging consumer fraud and RICO claims.

• Represent an investment adviser charged in the Eastern District of New York with alleged investment fraud.
• Represent a real estate executive charged by the New York State Attorney General’s Office with alleged bid-rigging; obtained a dismissal of the criminal complaint with prejudice.
• Represent a New York State judge charged with bribery in state court by the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
• Represent a venture capital fund manager charged in the Southern District of New York with securities fraud; obtained a significantly below-guidelines sentence.