Frederick Cohen

Partner

  • Frederick Cohen
  • Phone: +1 212 692 1030

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    1540 Broadway
    New York, NY 10036-4086
    USA
  • Duane Morris LLP
    230 Park Avenue, Suite 1130
    New York, NY 10169-0079
    USA

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, 2018 and 2025, Mr. Cohen was named a Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" in New York City for Construction Law and Litigation. Mr. Cohen has also been recognized as one of the leading construction attorneys in New York in the 2008 through 2024 editions of 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.

Areas of Practice

  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Construction Litigation

Representative Matters

  • Represented Brooklyn Law School in the sale of its 2 Pierrepont Street building in Brooklyn Heights for $35 million. The 12-story building has more than 40,000 square feet and serves as a rental-housing facility for students and faculty.

  • 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.

  • Preparation and negotiation of consulting, design and construction contracts for 140,000 square foot residential building in New York.

  • Preparation and negotiation of consulting, design and construction contracts for 1,165,000 square foot condominium residences, rental apartments and entertainment and retail areas in New York.

  • 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.

  • Representing Lower Manhattan Development Corporation in dispute resolution advice regarding various problems arising out of the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building proximate to the World Trade Center.

  • 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.

Admissions

  • New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  • 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

Education

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

Professional Activities

  • American Bar Association
    - Forum on the Construction Industry
  • American Arbitration Association
    - Construction Industry Panel of Arbitrators
  • UJA-Federation of New York's Real Estate Committee
  • The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
    - Construction Law Committee
    -- Chairman
  • New York State Bar Association
    - Executive Committee for Construction and Surety

Honors and Awards

  • Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2008-2024 editions

  • Named a Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" in Litigation - Construction, New York, 2014; and Construction Law, New York, 2018 and 2025
  • Listed in the New York Law Journal as a Top Rated Lawyer in Alternative Dispute Resolution, 2013
  • Selected as one of the Top Rated Lawyers in Construction Law by The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel, 2012

  • Listed in New York Super Lawyers

  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America

  • AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®

Selected Publications