Jonathan Cohen

Practice Areas

Jonathan Cohen is a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, where he is a member of the insurance coverage practice group. His practice focuses on representing policyholders in obtaining insurance coverage in complex, multiparty disputes involving product liability, product recalls, cyber events, and supply chain issues.

Jonathan has worked extensively with food, supplements, technology, and consumer product companies. He has successfully recovered insurance proceeds on behalf of Fortune 500 and smaller companies for a broad array of consumer product risks. He served as lead counsel in numerous matters involving food contamination and recall losses, Proposition 65 claims, cyber-related losses, advertising and IP claims, supply chain losses, and first-party property losses. Jonathan also has worked at the forefront of issues involving the overlap of insurance and bankruptcy, recovering billions of dollars through representations of debtors, claimant committees, a future claimant’s representative, and post-bankruptcy trusts.

Jonathan also represents clients in managing their business risks and advises clients with respect to insurance, indemnity agreements, and other contract-related aspects of their risk management strategies. He brings a unique perspective to client counseling, drawing on both his legal experience and his Ph.D. in organizational sociology to advance his clients’ business approach to addressing risk.

He also regularly represents civil rights organizations and individuals in high-stakes appellate litigation. He has filed briefs for individuals, consumer and policyholder groups, asbestos trusts, and civil rights organizations in more than a dozen U.S. Supreme Court cases, as well as before the Fourth and Ninth Circuit U.S. Courts of Appeal and state high courts.

Professional Memberships

Editorial Advisory Board, Food and Drug Law Journal, 2021

Advertising and Promotion Conference Planning Committee, Food and Drug Law Institute, 2020

Fellow, American Bar Foundation, 2017 through present

Board of Trustees, National Park Trust, 2010 through 2017

Co-Chair, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Subcommittee of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the ABA Section of Litigation, 2010 through present

National Advisory Council for Advancing Justice: Asian American Justice Center, 2008 through present

Board of Editors, The Corporate Counselor, 2007 through 2018

Publications

Iron-ing out Circuit Splits: A Proposal for the Use of the Irons Procedure to Prevent and Resolve Circuit Splits Among United States Courts of Appeals, 108 CAL. L. REV. 101 (June 2020) (with D. Cohen)

“Seven steps to prepare for and execute a successful food-related recall,” WestLaw, March 2019

“You’re in Better Hands Than You Think: Insurance Law May Provide Coverage for Defense of Advertising Claims,” Update Magazine, March/April 2018

Ten Things Every Food and Supplement Company Needs to Know About Insurance Coverage for Recent Hurricanes, We’ve Got You Covered - Insurance Law Blog, October 11, 2017

Disruption Protectors: Companies Can Take Three Steps to Minimize the Costs of a Supply Chain Interruption, Wholesale & Distribution International, September 11, 2014

Seeking (and Finding) Coverage for Proposition 65 Claims, We’ve Got You Covered - Insurance Law Blog, May 14, 2014

How Insurance Works with Labeling and Duty-to-Warn Lawsuits, Food Quality & Safety, January 28, 2014

Inside Appellate Courts: The Impact of Court Organization on Judicial Decision Making in the United States Courts of Appeals, University of Michigan Press, 2002

Education