April 2005

Last fall, alumnus Stephen Cohen left private practice to become an Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the aftermath of Enron and WorldCom, Stephen joins the S.E.C. at a fascinating time in securities enforcement. As a litigator for the S.E.C., Stephen's specialty is obviously securities law, but he points out that it is a much broader specialty than many realize. Beyond the classic insider trading cases, Stephen's caseload includes corporate and accounting fraud, auditor independence issues, and fraud and misconduct by investment advisers and broker-dealers.

Stephen is from Manalapan, New Jersey. He attended college at Boston University where he majored in international relations and graduated cum laude in 1993. He worked in international business for a year before starting law school at Miami. At UM Law, Stephen was an editor for the University of Miami Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Like most law students at UM, Stephen worked during his second and third year. He was a law clerk with Raskin & Raskin, P.A. as well as an assistant to Professor Froomkin for two years, a judicial clerk for both the federal and state courts in Miami during his second year, and in his final year he had a clinical placement with the State Attorney's Office. "One of the great things about Miami was the student body. I made some tremendous friends during my three years at Miami Law and even though we are now scattered all over the country, I stay in regular contact with a couple dozen of my old classmates. They are among some of the best people and attorneys that I know."

After graduating magna cum laude in 1997, he spent another year in Miami as a clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages. In 1998, Stephen relocated to Washington, D.C. where he accepted a position as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. After three years with the D.O.J., Stephen decided to try litigation in the private sector as an associate with Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP. During his three years with the firm, his work consisted primarily of securities enforcement and class action cases.

Additional experiences include three year's of pro bono work as a Guardian Ad Litem and an academic year teaching Legal Research & Writing as an adjunct professor at George Washington University School of Law. In their free time, Stephen and his wife enjoyed traveling extensively up until December 2004 when their son, Luke, was born.