…queer as in we are human beings.
ATTORNEYS:
ELena l. cohen
partner
Honorifics / Pronouns:
Dr., Prof. / she, her, hers
Elena L. Cohen is an attorney, Ph.D., and activist. She received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is also an adjunct associate professor teaching Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Gender and the Law classes in the City University of New York system. Ms. Cohen is the President of the National Lawyers Guild, having previously served as the President of the New York City Chapter of the Guild for two terms and as co-chair of the NYC Chapter’s Mass Defense Committee. Her legal practice includes criminal defense (primarily of those arrested for protest-related activities), creating and settling estates for people who die as a result of police or correctional officer misconduct, and civil rights litigation. She has published articles such as “Divided in Theory, United in Practice : the American Perspective on the Interface between Politics and the Courts”, “Reflections on Legal Support and Occupy Wall Street”, and a chapter in Biopolitics and Utopia: An Interdisciplinary Reader (2015). Ms. Cohen’s areas of expertise include sexuality, non-human animals, and comparative constitutional law. She can be reached at: elena (at) femmelaw.com.
j. remy green
partner
Honorifics / Pronouns:
Mx., Prof., Rev. / they, their, them
J. Remy Green is a partner with Cohen&Green, and they specialize in civil rights, defamation, free speech, consumer rights, and voting rights litigation. When they can, Remy gravitates towards cases that present novel or untested legal theories.
Remy (or, if you're feeling formal, Mx. Green) has argued and briefed cases before courts at every level, ranging from New York Small Claims Court to the Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. Their legal scholarship has appeared in the Syracuse Law Review, North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, and the Rutgers Law Record, and they have published numerous essays in various other fora as well as a forthcoming full-length book.
Remy is also a guest lecturer and adjunct professor at the Boston University School of Law and various schools in the CUNY system, where they teach courses that address issues of civil and constitutional rights.
They can be reached at: remy (at) femmelaw.com. If you want to talk about Remy, their pronouns are "they," "their," and "them" (see, well, this sentence), and their honorific is "Mx." (pronounced like "mix").
Remy is admitted to the bar in New York State and New Jersey, the United States District Courts for Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, as well as the Federal Courts of Appeal for the Second and Seventh Circuits. Remy is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
JESSICA MASSIMI
of counsel
Honorifics / Pronouns:
Ms. / she, her, hers
Jessica Massimi is of counsel to Cohen&Green. A proud member of the team at Cohen&Green, Jessica has a longstanding commitment to civil rights litigation on behalf of Plaintiffs. Jessica focuses on issues which impact vulnerable and marginalized New Yorkers, such as police misconduct, employment discrimination, and housing court issues.
Jessica’s practice includes representing Plaintiffs in situations where they have been sexually harassed, or discriminated against due to gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, national original, pregnancy or disability. Jessica is particularly proud of her record in achieving substantial settlements for her clients even before litigation.
Jessica also has tremendous experience litigating police misconduct cases against the City of New York and the New York City Police Department. She has substantial experience litigating excessive force cases involving severe injuries, false arrest, malicious prosecution, denial of fair trial, and wrongful conviction. Collectively, Jessica has managed and aggressively advanced more than 175 cases with multiple plaintiffs, taking them through initial conferences, depositions, discovery disputes, settlement conferences, fee motions, dispositive motions, and trial. Jessica believes strongly in protecting the constitutional and civil rights of New York City residents.
Jessica was voted a Super Lawyer rising star in the area of civil rights litigation from 2016-2020. She is a proud member of the national police accountability project. She is the immediate past president of the Civil Rights Section of the SDNY Federal Bar Association.
Jessica is admitted to the bar in New York State and the United States District Courts for Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. She has substantial experience litigating cases in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and elsewhere in New York City.
MOIRA MELTZER-COHEN
of counsel
Honorifics / Pronouns:
Ms. / Mx. / she / they
Moira Meltzer-Cohen’s vision of the relationship between law and justice is shaped by their commitment to radical social movements. They believe that the law is but one small tool in struggles for collective liberation. Mo aims to share her legal expertise with her clients, who have their own skills and expertise, in order to increase their opportunities for self-determination. Their law practice focuses on using the courts in the struggle for meaningful justice, including helping people to win parole release, advocating for health care for elderly or trans people who are incarcerated, and fighting criminal or civil charges brought against members of the press, protesters, grand jury resisters, and individuals alleged to have engaged in terrorist activity based on their political beliefs. Mo also enjoys facilitating quality of life planning, especially for non-traditional families.
Mo provides legal support and education for social movement groups pushing for fundamental transformation of oppressive systems. As a former teacher, who watched as her students were funneled into prisons – some as corrections officers and some as inmates – Mo feels her legal work must have an educational mission. After doing Know Your Rights education for protesters during Occupy Wall Street, Mo helped to found Just Info, a free 24-hour hotline that provides the same kind of legal information, service referrals, and community organizing connections to all people in the five boroughs. She is also a founding member of Mutant Legal, a collective devoted to popular education on matters of legal import, including community legal organizing.
Mo is admitted to practice law in New York State, and the Southern District of New York. They hold degrees from the University of Michigan (BA, 2000), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MS, Educational Policy Analysis, 2003), and the CUNY School of Law (JD, 2012). In addition to doing ongoing popular education, Mo has taught preschool, high school, and most recently, undergraduate criminal law at Hunter College. They can be reached at meltzercohen (at) gmail.com.
SUPPORT
Christine Driscoll
law clerk
Honorifics / Pronouns:
Ms. / she, her, hers