Profile: Joel M Cohen

Competition

Biography: Competition

Mr Cohen is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and is a practice group coordinator of the litigation department. He represents clients in a variety of antitrust and general civil litigation and arbitration matters.

Mr Cohen has represented a wide range of clients in connection with merger investigations, joint ventures, and antitrust counselling and litigation. He has been involved in transactions and investigations concerning pharmaceuticals, commercial banking, investment banking, securities trading, computers, software, music, insurance and various other industries.

He has advised numerous clients regarding licensing strategies and the permissible uses of intellectual property, and has represented clients in patent and antitrust litigation concerning the alleged misuse of patents. He has been lead counsel for AstraZeneca in In re Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litigation, a multidistrict litigation in which plaintiffs asserted that the settlement of a patent infringement lawsuit involving a generic drug manufacturer violated federal and state antitrust laws. He argued the case in the district court (which dismissed the complaint with prejudice) and in the Second Circuit (which affirmed). Mr Cohen also represented AstraZeneca in a class action lawsuit alleging that a series of patent infringement actions against generic pharmaceutical manufacturers violated the antitrust laws. The district court dismissed the action with prejudice.

In addition, Mr Cohen has represented a variety of clients in civil litigation, international arbitration and governmental investigations in the areas of professional malpractice, M&A/corporate control, false advertising, securities law enforcement, commercial contracts and others. For example, in 2006, he represented Hoffmann-La Roche in a false advertising action brought by Procter & Gamble, in which the district court denied in all respects Procter & Gamble's request for a preliminary injunction. In 2004, he represented Oracle Corporation in Delaware Chancery Court in connection with Oracle's successful acquisition of PeopleSoft.

Mr Cohen joined Davis Polk in 1987 and became a partner in 1996. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1983 and in 1986 received his JD, summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was notes and comments editor of the law review. He clerked for the Honourable Thomas A Clark, at the US Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, from 1986 to 1987.

He is a member of the antitrust section of the American Bar Association and has served as vice chair of the section's intellectual property committee and as a member of the antitrust law developments committee. He was a member of the editorial board of Antitrust Law Developments (Fourth). He has written numerous articles concerning antitrust law and litigation for national and international legal publications.