Frederick Cohen

Frederick Cohen is a trial lawyer with more than 35 years’ experience in construction matters. His experience includes resolving issues involving delays, defective performance and structural failures. He also has resolved many cases through alternative dispute resolution procedures.

Mr. Cohen’s practice focuses upon the representation of owner-developers, nonprofit institutions, contractors and sureties in both the private and public sectors. In addition to his litigation practice, he has negotiated and prepared complex construction contracts for hospitals, university residence halls, office buildings and high-rise residential buildings.

In 2014 and 2018, Mr. Cohen was named a U.S. News/Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for New York City Litigation – Construction. Mr. Cohen has also been recognized as one of the leading construction attorneys in New York in the 2008 through 2018 Chambers USA Guide to America ‘s Leading Business Lawyers.

A member of the American and New York State bar associations and of the American Arbitration Association, Mr. Cohen is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and a graduate of Alfred University.

Representative Matters:

• Represented the owners of a construction management and consulting company, in the sale of all of the membership interests to a subsidiary of a NYSE listed global provider of architecture, design, engineering, and construction services.
• Negotiation of GMP Construction Management Agreement for construction of two residential buildings in New York.
• Advised in an arbitration in connection with construction of an addition to Bronx Lebanon Hospital.
• Negotiated and executed a contract to construct a 96-story, 1,396-foot-tall condominium at the old Drake Hotel site on Park Avenue in Manhattan. When completed, it will be the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere.
• Preparing and negotiating on behalf of ownership all design and construction contracts related to 432 Park Avenue, a 95-story residential tower that once constructed will be New York City’s tallest apartment building and will contain 147 residential units that will be listed, when counted together, for $2.43 billion.
• Obtained an order on behalf of a developer that discharged a construction lien filed by a default-terminated electrical subcontractor and barred it from pursuing a second or subsequent lien because the subcontractor had failed to comply with the requirements of the New Jersey Construction Lien Law.
• Representation of a public owner on claims in various State court proceedings against a construction manager and various trade contractors for damages arising out of a fire on a demolition project at the WTC site.

Education:

• Brooklyn Law School, J.D.
• Alfred University, B.A.

Admissions:

• New York
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Professional Activities:

• American Bar Association
• American Arbitration Association
• UJA-Federation of New York’s Real Estate Committee
• The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
• New York State Bar Association