Joseph S. Cohen

Houston, TX
Partner

Joseph Cohen's current practice focuses on commercial disputes, consumer class actions, securities, business, alternative energy disputes, product liability, mass torts and complex litigation. In addition, his practice has included legislative work for pharmaceutical, mining, and transportation companies at the state and national levels.

• University of Tennessee College of Law, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1978, J.D.
  
• University of Tennessee, 1975, B.A.
  Honors: 
  -Phi Beta Kappa

• Obtained affirmance of a summary judgment as lead defense counsel against a plaintiff's claim that her brain tumor was caused by an oral polio vaccine allegedly manufactured by Pfizer Inc.
• Counseled a trade association on antitrust issues
• Obtained a defense verdict exonerating a securities broker dealer and its CEO of civil liability for violations of federal and state securities laws
• Represented a biofuels company in resolving disputes with former directors and a former CEO
• Obtained summary judgment for a pharmaceutical manufacturer on a product liability claim involving arthritis prescription medication
• Defeated the certification of a consumer class against the maker of diabetes prescription medication
• Coordinated and managed Texas products liability litigation involving prescription diabetes medication
• Coordinated and managed Texas products liability litigation involving post-menopausal hormone replacement medications
• Represented a wireless telephone service provider in settling a consumer class action
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in drafting pharmaceuticals provisions of the 2003 Texas Tort Reform legislation
• Represented a mining company in drafting silicosis provisions of the 2005 Texas Tort Reform legislation
• Obtained mandamus directing trial court to compel arbitration despite a state agency’s purported primary jurisdiction over the parties’ dispute. In re Sonic Carrollton, V L.P. 230 S.W.3d 811(Tex.App.-Dallas 2007) (orig. proceeding)
  

• All Texas state courts
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas
  

• State Bar of Texas
• Houston Bar Association
• Life Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
• Fellow, Houston Bar Foundation
• Defense Research Institute
• Texas Associate of Defense Counsel
• Board of Directors, Houston Chapter, American Jewish Committee
  

• Contributor, “Spoliation Roundtable,” International Lawyers Network Roundtable Series, August 2006
• “Texas Sets Pace in Drug Tort Reform,” Drug Discovery and Development, June 2004
• Coauthor, “Arbitration Showdown,” Financial Planning magazine, July 2003
  

• Life Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation
• Texas Monthly Super Lawyer, 2004

• Roundtable moderator, "The Ethics of Pharma,"  Pharmaceutical Executive, December, 2004