Cohen & Siegel LLP

04/21/2020

I am in awe of healthcare workers who do their jobs every day during the COVID crisis. They know that they are putting themselves at great risk; they see the serious effects of this disease all too closely. Yet they continue to go to work, putting their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. While this country has a history of coming together in times of crisis, it takes a truly special person to take action knowing that they may wind up in harm’s way. We really cannot honor their heroism enough.

The rest of us do what we can to help others during the crisis. Whether it is helping an elderly neighbor with their grocery shopping, making a donation to a local food pantry, sewing masks for a hospital or simply staying at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus, most people are trying to do their part. And of course, lawyers can offer legal advice.

At Cohen & Siegel, we are providing pro bono legal services to small businesses through a joint program sponsored by Lawyers for Good Government and the New York City Bar Justice Center. Through this initiative, we are offering free consultations to small businesses in New York that have been affected by the coronavirus. The project is being offered in many cities throughout the country, but since we a New York law firm, we can only offer advice in our state.

Many people are wondering what will happen to their businesses if they remain closed. How will they pay their bills? Can they be evicted for failing to pay their rent? Do they qualify for the Small Business Association loans? Will their insurance cover any of their losses? What happens to their employees? Can they actually work while their state is shut down? The list of worries seems endless.

I have given two consultations and am preparing for more. The advice I’ve dispensed cannot solve every issue these business owners have; I wish it could. But I hope it at least offers some direction, and the knowledge that they are not in this fight alone – they do have help, and there are resources to offer hope.

Sometimes, that’s enough.

03/28/2020

I am proud that Cohen & Siegel is among the law firms involved in this initiative from Lawyers for Good Government. We hope to aid small business devastated by the coronavirus crisis in their attempts to get whatever assistance they can, because these companies are the lifeblood of this country. It is the American Dream for millions of people to start their own business. We cannot and will not let that vision be destroyed by an illness, however powerful it might be.

I felt it was vital that a small business owner, like me, should participate, because while most of these other law offices employ hundreds of lawyers, we have four. I believe we can lend a perspective that the large firms cannot, based on our unique experience in forming and running our own business. And, as Vice Chair of Lawyers for Good Government, I have always tried to be involved with every one of our programs. I am extremely proud of Project Corazon, our program to help asylum seeking immigrants at the southern border; equally so of our Climate Change work, which has been hailed as a “game changer” by the Sierra Club and lauded by Bloomberg Philanthropies; not to mention all the other programs we’ve undertaken in the past 3+ years.

This presents a new challenge. But I am convinced we’re up to it. In the past, we have always succeeded in making a difference. I firmly believe this time will be no different, and we will overcome the COVID-19.

Together.

Please stay safe and healthy.

Kirkland & Ellis and others are joining the City Bar Justice Center to roll out a pilot in New York, and the Lawyers for Good Government Foundation will provide national assistance in the effort to guide small business owners on how to access government support.

03/28/2020

I am a co-founder and the managing partner of Cohen & Siegel, a law firm which concentrates in Workers’ Compensation and Social Security disability law. And while I was trained as an attorney first, through necessity I have become a small business owner. I have learned, mostly the hard way, about the ups and downs that small business have to address on a regular basis.

Of course, I am also not shy about my involvement with Lawyers for Good Government (did you know I’m the proud Vice Chairman?), where one of our goals is to help people when governments cannot or will not. So when Traci Feit Love and Jacqueline Haberfeld (an old classmate) proposed this initiative to help small businesses, I rapidly asked to become involved. I hope to lend a small business perspective to this project that, along with the power of the big law firms involved, can be helpful when assessing the obstacles that companies - like mine - face when attempting to survive in the era of the COVID-19.

Please stay healthy and safe, everyone. Let’s beat this thing.

Hundreds of thousands of small business owners are struggling with questions about how their businesses will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Dozens of large law firms are stepping up to offer free legal guidance and information about available grants, loans, and other benefits.

11/14/2019

Proud to support our good friends at El Centro Hispano as they celebrate their 45th anniversary!

Whether it has been through offering classes, granting scholarships, workshops, internships or other wonderful programs, this incredible organization has been changing lives for the better since 1974. I am thrilled that we at Cohen and Siegel can support their work.

10/03/2019

Last night I was honored to meet Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. For those playing at home, that means he's the 4th highest ranking member of the House of Representatives.

While Congressman Jeffries naturally spoke about the impeachment process and the need to rid our country of the current president, his real concern was the need for Congress to govern properly, and help people with things like lowering drug prices and fixing our infrastructure. In what shapes up to be an extremely tumultuous year in America's politics, here's hoping the federal government can actually pass legislation that benefits the American people.

09/20/2019

My wife Robyn and I are visiting our daughter Reyna in London. However, apparently you can take the lawyer away from home, but it seems you can’t take the activist away from political commentary.

Here Reyna and I participated in the protest in Bath, England.

“From Bath, England With love (for our planet) We are visiting our daughter in the UK But this is too important If we do not remove from our governments Our children's children may have no Earth to call home ”

09/01/2019

As some of you may know, I am on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for Good Government, an organization of over 100,000 attorneys which advocates for human rights, works to preserve the right to vote and strives to combat climate change, among other initiatives.

This is an example of our recent work, as we strive to assist asylum seekers endangered by the Trump administration’s ill-advised “Remain in Mexico” policy.

I thank all who have contributed to L4GG. With your help we are providing vital and desperately needed legal services to those who would otherwise have none.

Hopefully you will find this more enlightening than a post about Workers’ Compensation or Social Security Disability law.

“Last weekend, Atlanta-based nonprofit Lawyers for Good Government flew half a dozen immigration lawyers from across the country to Matamoros to help asylum seekers prepare for upcoming Remain in Mexico court dates. The group hopes to establish offices in Matamoros and several other Mexican border cities just as the U.N. agency plans to start busing migrants there home.

As soon as the group of lawyers crossed the border bridge from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros on Saturday, hundreds of asylum-seeking families living in tents next to the bridge surrounded them, clutching U.S. immigration paperwork.”

A U.N. agency funded by the U.S. State Department has sent more than 2,200 migrants back to Central America under a program called "voluntary return" that migrant advocates say fails to advise U.S. asylum seekers of their rights.

08/25/2019

Meet the Director of Marketing, Settlements & Depositions Mr. Shyjab Villacis

[email protected]

08/24/2019

Cohen & Siegel would like to congratulate all of the scholarship recipients in partnership with and wish them a great school year ahead! Our partner wishes you successful year and can’t wait to see the fruits of your hard work! Adam Cohen

07/15/2019

We had a great day yesterday at the Hispanic Heritage Festival here in Westchester. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, said hello & made this a truly remarkable event. Special shout out to our friends at for their continued dedication to our community and to for being great table neighbors yesterday & an inspiration to all of us in the community. @ Kensico Dam Plaza

07/15/2019

We had a great day yesterday at the Hispanic Heritage Festival here in Westchester. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, said hello & made this a truly remarkable event.

06/26/2019

Adam S. Cohen is the founder and Managing Partner of Cohen & Siegel. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, Class of 1986, with a dual concentration in English and Politics. He is also a graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Class of 1991, where he was a Samuel Belkin Scholar.
Adam was admitted to practice law in Connecticut in February of 1992, and in New York in April 1992. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives, the Injured Workers’ Bar Association, the New York Trial Lawyers, and the Westchester Bar Association.
He has served on the Board of Directors of the Mount Vernon Boys’ Club and is currently on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for Good Government, a national organization comprised of approximately 125,000 members who focus on human rights, immigration rights, free and fair elections, protecting the environment and gun safety issues. He has been very active helping immigrants seeking asylum in Texas.
Adam is married and has two children. He lives in Westchester.