David J. Cohen, new SMBB Class Action Partner. (PRNewsFoto/Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, PC) Class action perfect complement to current focus and client base
PHILADELPHIA, March 21 LAWFUEL – Class Action Law News — Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, PC, will begin an aggressive expansion into the field of class action litigation, starting with the addition of David J. Cohen, Esquire,
as Partner and head of the new practice group, it was announced today.
A highly skilled and successful class-action attorney, Mr. Cohen has
spent more than a decade holding the nation’s largest companies responsible
for their improper conduct through active involvement in a broad range of
antitrust, consumer, employment and securities cases — work he intends to continue at SMBB.
Michael F. Barrett, the firm’s Managing Shareholder, said the creation of a class action practice group has been a key objective for some time:
“Class action cases are a natural complement to our growing base of labor
union clients and to our huge base of individual clients who will benefit
from access to representation in complex claims ranging from defective
medical devices to construction material price fixing. And now, with David J. Cohen, we have the ideal lawyer to lead and grow that practice.”
Mr. Cohen, who is widely regarded as a passionate advocate for the
rights of consumers, patients, union members, shareholders and workers,
said: “I have long admired the talent, vision and dedication of SMBB’s
lawyers. With the firm’s extensive resources and significant client base,
it is hard to imagine a better fit for a lawyer seeking to build a thriving class action practice.”
At SMBB, Mr. Cohen will continue his work as part of a team of lawyers seeking to recover more than $1.5 billion that consumers overpaid for Vioxx as a result of Merck’s deceptive marketing of the drug in the Vioxx Consumer Litigation currently pending in the New Jersey Superior Court.
Mr. Cohen also brings to SMBB a leadership role in El v. SEPTA (E.D.
Pa.), arguably the most significant ex-offender rights case in a decade.
This case challenges an employment policy that, in direct contravention of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance, barred the hiring of any ex-offender without requiring individual consideration into
the age, nature or job-relatedness of their past convictions.
Over the last ten years, Mr. Cohen has worked on dozens of significant
antitrust, consumer, employment and securities matters for two highly
regarded Philadelphia firms. Before joining the private sector, Mr. Cohen
completed a unique clerkship with the Hon. Stephen E. Levin in the
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, during which he not only helped to
develop a respected and efficient system for the resolution of the Court’s class action cases, but also contributed to several well-regarded works on class actions.
Mr. Cohen earned a J.D. from the Temple University School of Law in
1994. While attending law school, he was awarded the Barristers Award for
excellence in trial advocacy and worked as a teaching assistant for
Temple’s Integrated Trial Advocacy program. Mr. Cohen graduated with honors from the University of Chicago in 1991.
Mr. Cohen is admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the state courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is an active member of the American and Philadelphia Bar Associations.
A Philadelphia native, Mr. Cohen is actively involved in the Old City
Civic Association, serving on the Association’s Executive Committee, as its Recording Secretary and as a Board member. He is a member of the Young
Friends of Inglis House, an interviewer for the University of Chicago
alumni interview program and has often served as a judge for the Temple
University Beasley School of Law Moot Court Honor Society competitions.
Cohen is married to Amy Bluemle, and has a son, Drew.
