Peter C. Cohen

Peter Cohen, of Brooklyn, New York, joined the firm in 2003 and became partner in September of 2004. He graduated with top honors from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a B.A. in Political Science. In 1984, he received his J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. Mr. Cohen is admitted to practice in Virginia, Washington, D.C., the state and federal courts in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. Cohen possesses over twenty five years of experience handling a variety of litigation matters, including employment disputes, ERISA and labor law litigation, financial institutions litigation, pension and health care litigation, and criminal defense litigation. For several years he managed his own practice where he represented plaintiffs in litigation of a wide variety of employment related matters in the state and federal courts of the District of Columbia and Maryland. During this time Mr. Cohen tried cases and appeals addressing D.C. Human Rights laws, Title VII, the ADA, other federal and state statutes, and a variety of common law claims, including defamation, breach of contract, fraud, tortious interference, assault and battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Mr. Cohen continues to litigate these and other employment-related claims today. Recognized as an expert in employment matters, Mr. Cohen was recently quoted by the Wall Street Journal in an article regarding pregnancy discrimination.

Mr. Cohen has also litigated claims on behalf of retirees seeking pension plan benefits, employees of the Federal Government to recover overtime compensation, and labor unions. Mr. Cohen asserted claims to recover the savings of people who lost their money as a result of the savings and loan scandal, and he represented beneficiaries and fiduciaries of retirement and health care plans in private class action lawsuits and enforcement actions by the Department of Labor. Mr. Cohen has also represented the interests of indigent criminal defendants, including death row inmates, before appellate courts, testified often before Congress, and authored many articles of interest to the public defender community.

Since joining Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown & Sakata, P.C., Mr. Cohen has served as lead counsel in multiple employment cases involving discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and other employment and business torts such as those listed above. In addition, Mr. Cohen has provided advice to a significant number of clients (including high-level executives, corporate officers, and directors) relating to severance packages, employment agreements, covenants not to compete, change in control provisions, and other business and employment-related advice. Mr. Cohen represented a widow of a 9-11 victim, in a pro bono capacity, for claims made to the fund established by Congress.

In 2011, Mr. Cohen presented at a CLE sponsored by the Virginia State Bar Association regarding “Effective Techniques for Using and Excluding Evidence in Employment Cases.”

Confidentiality requirements accompanying the many cases that Mr. Cohen has settled prevent disclosure of specific settlement details, but these cases have involved a wide range of claims, damages, and employment-related clientele. Recent verdicts Mr. Cohen has obtained on behalf of his clients include: Holmes v. Deque Systems, Inc., et al., At Law No. 2007-4165 (Fairfax Cir. Ct.) (unjust enrichment - $580,000 jury verdict); Hughston v. New Home Media, et al., C.A. No. 1:06cv1362 (E.D. Va.) (assault and battery, hostile work environment, and constructive discharge – $314,717.40 judgment, fees, and costs awarded); Hyland v. Raytheon Company, et al., At Law No. 221038 (Fairfax Cir. Ct., Oct. 2005)(defamation – $3.5 million jury verdict, reduced to $1.875 million, reversed on legal grounds); Butler v. Southern States Cooperative, Inc., et al., 270 Va. 459 (2005) (Virginia Supreme Court reversed trial court’s dismissal of sexual assault and battery claims in the workplace).

Mr. Cohen’s reported cases include: Hughston v. New Home Media, 552 F. Supp.2d 559 (E.D.Va.2008); Zuurbier v. Medstar Health, Inc., et al., 895 A.2d 905 (2006); Hyland v. Raytheon, et. al., At Law No. 221038 (Fairfax Cir. Ct., 2005); Butler v. Southern States Cooperative, 270 Va. 459, 620 S.E.2d 768 (2005); Rohan v. Networks Presentations, LLC, 375 F.3d 266 (4th Cir. 2004); Zuurbier v. Medstar Health, Inc., et al., 306 F. Supp.2d (D.D.C. 2004); Rohan v. Networks Presentations, LLC, 192 F.Supp.2d 434 (D.Md. 2003); Rohan v. Networks Presentations, LLC, 175 F.Supp.2d 806 (D.Md. 2001); Stith v. Chadbourne & Parke, LLP, 160 F.Supp.2d 1 (2001); Board of Trustees of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees of Local 25 v. Madison Hotel, 43 F.Supp.2d 8 (D.D.C. 1999); Currier v. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 159 F.3d.1363 (D.C. Cir. 1999); In re Forfeiture Hearing re: Caplin & Drysdale, 837 F.2d 637 (4th Cir. 1998);and United States v. Harvey, 814 F.2d 905 (4th Cir. 1987).

Mr. Cohen has been recognized as a Virginia Super Lawyer each year since 2008, has been recognized as one of the top 100 Lawyers in the Washington Metropolitan Area over the past several years, and was selected as a Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer in 2013. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.