H. Rodgin Cohen is Senior Chair of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, having served as Chair from 2000 to 2009. The primary focus of Mr. Cohen’s practice is regulatory, enforcement, acquisition, payments, cybersecurity and securities law matters for banking and other financial institutions and their trade associations, and corporate governance matters for a wide variety of organizations. He advises the financial services industry on the full range of regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters, including international capital and liquidity standards, and multiagency investigations relating to compliance with anti-money laundering and sanctions issues. He frequently works with all the bank regulatory agencies as well as multiple other governmental agencies. Mr. Cohen is also a frequent advisor on strategic and corporate governance activism and its impact on institutions.
Mr. Cohen is or has been a member of the FDIC Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee, the National Security Agency Cyber Awareness Panel, the Treasury Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession and The New York State Commission to Modernize the Regulation of Financial Services. He is or has also been Vice Chairman, Economic Studies Council of Brookings Institution and a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative, The Pew Financial Reform Project, the IIF Special Committee for a Strategic Dialogue for Effective Regulation and The Financial Services Roundtable’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Enhancing Competitiveness.
He has played a singular role in the market events that have changed the face of the financial services industry and the economy, for which he has been recognized by organizations such as The American Lawyer, The Clearing House, and the Financial Times. He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the New York Law Journal, Who’s Who Legal, Chambers, Legal 500 and the M&A Advisor. Most recently, Mr. Cohen was inducted into Legal 500’s Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Burton Awards inaugural Law Firm Leadership in Law Award. William Burton, founder and chair of the Burton Awards, said, “Rodgin Cohen is an icon in law and is known and respected widely. His qualities and attributes far exceed the highest standards which could ever be set for a law firm leader. He has established an impressive record of success for Sullivan & Cromwell, and is the finest example for every leader to follow.”
Mr. Cohen is a trustee of New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Hackley School (President of the Board), Lincoln Center Theater, 9/11 Memorial & Museum, New York City Partnership, trustee emeritus of Rockefeller University, and, formerly, trustee of Deerfield Academy (President and Treasurer of the Board), Hampton University, and the Economic Club of New York, and is a member of the Harvard Law School Visiting Committee and the Tisch School of the Arts (NYU) Visiting Committee and the advisory boards of Wall Street Rising, United Way of Westchester-Putnam and the University of Charleston.