Harriet Newman Cohen

Ms. Cohen is featured in the three-part HBO Documentary, “Nuclear Family,” which depicts her devoted and skillful representation of a Lesbian couple who were in a lurid custody fight with a sperm donor who asserted parental rights for one of the couple’s daughters. She guided the couple to a successful, precedent-setting conclusion.

Ms. Cohen was the subject of feature profiles for the New York Super Lawyers Magazine, entitled, “The Second Life of Harriet Cohen, What the Matrimonial Lawyer Learned to Share with the World.” In 2023, Ms. Cohen was selected as one of the ”Notable Women in Law” by Crain’s New York Business. Ms. Cohen has been nominated for the 2024 Inns of Court prestigious “Court Professionalism Award” by the New York Women’s Bar Association, an honor given to lawyers and judges who demonstrate the highest standards of character, unquestioned integrity, ethics, civility, and professionalism.

Throughout her professional career, Ms. Cohen has been awarded the highest AV® Preeminent™ rating (5 out of 5) by Martindale and Hubbell, the nationally recognized legal directory, signifying the highest rating for legal ability and professional standards of conduct and ethics. Ms. Cohen has been consistently listed as one of the “TOP 50 Female Lawyers” by New York Metro Super Lawyers; this list recognizes “the women lawyers who received the highest point totals in the New York Super Lawyers-Metro Edition nomination, research and blue ribbon review process.” Ms. Cohen has annually been listed as one of the TOP 100 Lawyers in New York Metro by Super Lawyers.

Ms. Cohen is a graduate of Barnard College (B.A. cum laude) (Latin major; Music minor) and Bryn Mawr College (M.A. in Latin). She graduated from Brooklyn Law School (J.D. cum laude). When at law school, Ms. Cohen was an editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. Ms. Cohen is the President of her alumnae class at her alma mater, Barnard College.Ms. Cohen has been a role model and advocate for women in law, and she is a co-founder of the Brooklyn Law School Women’s Leadership Circle.

Ms. Cohen has been appointed by the court to represent children in contested family law matters and as a neutral evaluator to assist the court in bringing highly-contested matters to settlement. She was one of the authors of the equitable distribution law. Governor Mario Cuomo appointed Ms. Cohen to serve on the Child Support Commission of the State of New York. She also was appointed by Mayor David Dinkins to serve on the Foster Care Commission of the City of New York. Ms. Cohen was President of the New York Women’s Bar Association, is a member of the New York State Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County Matrimonial Advisory Committee, and she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Ms. Cohen is a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Building Trust through Justice Archive initiative; she also serves on the Matrimonial Law Committee of the Bar Association of the City of New York and served as a Member of the President’s Advisory Council of Brooklyn Law School. Despite these activities, Ms. Cohen can be found in her law office “24/7.”

Ms. Cohen is dedicated to the practice of law in the finest tradition, zealously representing her clients and making herself available to promote reform in the law by authoring annual informative legal articles for the New York Law Journal and sharing her knowledge and experience in the law with the Governor, the Legislature and the Courts. Matrimonial and family law and custody is her passion.

Ms. Cohen sits on the Board of Directors of the Lotos Club, founded by a group of literati including Mark Twain, one of the oldest cultural clubs in the United States, was chair of its Music Committee and was awarded its Medal of Merit, the Lotos Club’s highest award, for her outstanding contributions to the Club. Ms. Cohen served as “roast-master” at the Lotos Club’s 2024 and 2025 Founder’s Day dinners. She also serves on the Stecher & Horowitz Foundation board, which organizes the NY International Piano Competition and Young Artists Series, and Ms. Cohen was a former board member of the New York City Opera.

Ms. Cohen’s memoir, “Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds,” was published by Bloomsbury Academic in February 2026.