Josh Cohen

Practice Areas

Josh Cohen is a litigation partner and member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group based in San Francisco. His practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, and collateral civil proceedings in federal and state courts in California and nationwide.

Mr. Cohen represents public companies, financial institutions, advisers, and senior executives in high-profile matters involving securities fraud, accounting irregularities, money laundering, commercial bribery, antitrust violations, pharmaceutical marketing, and insider trading. His practice also includes securities class actions, shareholder derivative lawsuits, and complex commercial disputes. He has conducted a number of internal investigations for companies and public and educational institutions.

Mr. Cohen is a recognized first-chair trial lawyer and courtroom advocate. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Chambers-ranked lawyer in White Collar Crime and Government Investigations. Sources say that “[f]rom trial preparation, to strategy and cross-examination, Josh is just the best.” Clients also report that “he has real strength in oral advocacy – the judges love him.” They describe him as “very meticulous and thorough in his approach. He knows how to identify issues in an investigation which others are less quick to notice.” Lawdragon recognizes Mr. Cohen as one of the 500 leading lawyers in America, and he has been listed among U.S. News and World Report’s Best Lawyers since 2016.

Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Cohen was a named partner at a leading white-collar litigation boutique in San Francisco, where he advised public companies and high-level executives on white collar matters. Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Northern District of California, where he represented indigent defendants charged with federal crimes ranging from fish-and-game violations to murder.

Mr. Cohen is Vice-Chair of the American College of Trial Lawyers Federal Criminal Procedure Committee. He previously sat on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and co-chaired the organization’s White Collar Crime Committee from 2016 to 2018.

Mr. Cohen served as a law clerk to the Hon. Charles R. Breyer on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He received his J.D. in 2001 from Yale Law School, where he was an Essays Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He earned his B.A. summa cum laude from Williams College in 1996.