Adam Cohen

Adam Seth Cohen (born 1962) is an American journalist, author, lawyer, and former assistant editorial page editor of The New York Times. He also worked in the administration of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Education Cohen graduated from Bronx High School of Science. He obtained his bachelor's degree in the interdisciplinary honors Social Studies program from Harvard College in 1984 and received his J.D. degree in 1987 from Harvard Law School where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. Career After graduating from Harvard Law School, Cohen clerked for Judge Abner Mikva on the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and then served as a lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. Cohen subsequently worked as a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in New York City. While at the ACLU, he focused on school finance and educational equity issues and was part of the legal team that brought an Alabama state court class action in 1991, claiming that the public school system violated the state constitution by failing to provide an equitable, adequate or "liberal" education. In 1993 the state courts ruled in favor of the ACLU and the children plaintiffs in Harper v. Hunt, finding that poor schools were not equitably funded. The lower court decision was reviewed in the federal courts. During his tenure as Alabama attorney general, Jeff Sessions, later President Donald Trump's attorney general of the United States, fought against the findings of the Alabama courts. Sessions was ultimately successful in his campaign to prevent schools in poorer Alabama communities from being funded at the same level as schools in wealthier districts. After leaving the ACLU, Cohen spent seven years as a senior writer for Time magazine, until he left to become a member of The New York Times editorial board. During his tenure at the Times, from 2002 until 2010, Cohen's editorials focused on tech and legal affairs. After leaving The New York Times, he became a lecturer in law at Yale Law School and a fellow at the Yale Information Society Project, teaching courses in media and internet law. He also wrote a legal column which appeared in Time.com every Monday.