H. Rodgin Cohen

Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

H. Rodgin Cohen is senior chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, having served as chairman from 2000 to 2009. The primary focus of Cohen’s practice is regulatory, enforcement, acquisition, and securities law matters for U.S. and non-U.S. financial institutions and their trade associations, and corporate governance matters for a wide variety of organizations.

Cohen advises the financial services industry on the full range of regulatory, merger and acquisition, governance, compliance, and enforcement matters, including multiagency investigations relating to compliance with anti-money laundering and sanctions issues. He frequently works with all the bank regulatory agencies as well as multiple other governmental agencies. Key recent matters include the Volcker Rule, numerous other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, capital and liquidity standards, resolution, and resolution planning. He provides corporate governance advice to a large number of institutions, both regular clients and as special assignments, and is also a frequent advisor on the rise of strategic and corporate governance activism.

He has played a singular role in the market events that have changed the face of the financial services industry and economy, for which he has been recognized by organizations such as The American Lawyer, The Clearing House, and the Financial Times. He has received lifetime achievement awards from Who’s Who Legal, Chambers, the New York Law Journal, and the M&A Advisor. Most recently, Cohen was inducted into Legal500’s Hall of Fame and was the recipient of the Burton Awards inaugural Law Firm Leadership in Law Award. William Burton, founder and chair of the Burton Awards, said, “Rodgin Cohen is an icon in law and is known and respected widely. His qualities and attributes far exceed the highest standards which could ever be set for a law firm leader. He has established an impressive record of success for Sullivan & Cromwell, and is the finest example for every leader to follow.”

Cohen is or has been a member of the FDIC Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee, the National Security Agency Cyber Awareness Panel, the Treasury Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession, and the New York State Commission to Modernize the Regulation of Financial Services. He is or has also been vice chairman of the Economic Studies Council of the Brookings Institution and a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative, the Pew Financial Reform Project, the IIF Special Committee for a Strategic Dialogue for Effective Regulation, and the Financial Services Roundtable’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Enhancing Competitiveness.

Cohen is a trustee of New York Presbyterian Hospital, The Rockefeller University, Hackley School, Lincoln Center Theater, New York City Partnership and, formerly, Deerfield Academy (as president of the board), Hampton University, Harvard Law School Visiting Committee, and the Economic Club of New York.