Joel M. Cohn is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington, D.C. He represents management in federal and state court complex employment litigation. Mr. Cohn has substantial experience defending wage and hour and employment discrimination class actions. His experience includes federal court jury trials and arguments in most of the U.S. courts of appeals. He has successfully tried Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions and Title VII class actions. Mr. Cohn has worked extensively with expert witnesses in the areas of statistics and surveys. He has represented employers in the retail, food processing, financial services, manufacturing and restaurant industries.
Mr. Cohn leads the firm’s national wage and hour practice. He is a member of the board of editors of The Fair Labor Standards Act (BNA, 2010) and is a member of the editorial advisory board of the Employer’s Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act (Thompson Publishing Group). He is a frequent participant in programs discussing wage and hour issues.
Mr. Cohn joined Akin Gump in 1983 after serving as a staff attorney in the Appellate Litigation Division at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in the Office of Representation Appeals at the National Labor Relations Board.
Mr. Cohn received his J.D. in 1976 from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and his B.A. with distinction in 1971 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Milton D. Korman of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He is a member of the Ohio and District of Columbia bars, and the American Bar Association and its Section of Labor and Employment Law. He was recognized as a leading lawyer in 2006-2010 by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of labor and employment.