Tuesday, June 30, 2020

On Jerry Cohen's 90th NYU Law announces endowed chair and fall programs to honor Professor Jerome A. Cohen on his retirement | NYU School of Law


It has been one of the greatest honors of my life that I had the opportunity to know and to work with Jerome Cohen who has just turned 90.  His career is the stuff of legend - but he actually did it all.
I had the great good fortune in 2005 to travel with Jerry and two distinguished judges John Walker and Jed Rakoff to Guangzhou and  Beijing.  We lectured about fair trials and judicial ethics.  At Beijing Normal University's Criminal Justice School we discussed the death penalty with concerned prosecutors, lawyers, and judges.  Since then I have been fortunate to attend many discussions in the Winston Lord round-tables at the Council on Foreign Relations. - GWC
NYU Law announces endowed chair and fall programs to honor Professor Jerome A. Cohen on his retirement | NYU School of Law
For nearly 60 years—the past 30 at NYU School of Law—Professor Jerome A. Cohen has been a towering figure in the fields of Chinese law and East Asian legal studies. To celebrate him on the occasion of his retirement on June 30, the Law School is delighted to announce the establishment of an endowed chair in his name, as well as a series of virtual events this fall focused on critical legal issues in East Asia.

Jerome Cohen
Jerome Cohen

Longtime friends of Jerry Cohen, Andrew Duncan and Bess Weatherman, spearheaded the campaign to establish the Jerome A. Cohen Professorship of Law by seeding the chair with a generous gift. They then worked closely with Cohen’s extended family of former students, scholars, and others around the world to fully endow the chair. Others contributing were Jack Huang, founder and chairman of Taiwan Renaissance Platform, and former partner-in-charge of Jones Day, Taipei; Daniel Tsai, chairman of Fubon Group; and additional supporters who wish to remain anonymous.
Once a faculty member is selected for the professorship, the Law School will announce an inaugural chair event to mark the occasion.
“Jerry is one of the foremost authorities on a document that many often forget about,” says Duncan. “China has a constitution too—using that as his cornerstone, Jerry has been an unsurpassed ambassador for Chinese rule of law. Jerry knows that there cannot be healthy capitalism without healthy rule of law. The true gift of Jerry Cohen is his coaching tree—literally generations of younger people around the globe. It is Jerry’s commitment to the children of the Sino American relationship which will remain with me for the rest of my days.”
“We are thrilled to endow a chair in Jerry’s name, and grateful to Andrew and Bess for being so instrumental in making that possible,” says Dean Trevor Morrison. “This will not only honor one of the original leaders of the field of Asian legal studies in the West; it will also guarantee the long-term sustainability of Jerry’s path-breaking work, enabling NYU Law to continue as a vital center for the study of Asian legal systems and an active participant in US-Asian exchanges on critical issues of law and policy.” Morrison adds: “It is especially fitting to announce this now, since tomorrow, July 1, is Jerry’s 90th birthday. On behalf of the entire Law School community, I offer him our congratulations, admiration, thanks, and best wishes.”
After graduating from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, Cohen clerked at the US Supreme Court for Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice Felix Frankfurter. After starting his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, in 1964 he joined the faculty at Harvard Law School, founding the school’s East Asian Legal Studies program. As a partner (and now of counsel) at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, he concentrated on business law in Asia. ***

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