In memoriam: Jerome A. Cohen (1930-2025)
Professor of Law Emeritus Jerome A. Cohen, a trailblazer in the Western study of East Asian law and a mentor to generations of students, died on September 22 at the age of 95.
Cohen introduced East Asian legal systems into American legal education and shaped generations of lawyers and scholars. After graduating from Yale Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and clerking for Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice Felix Frankfurter of the US Supreme Court, he began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 1959. Cohen joined Harvard Law School in 1964 as associate dean and founded East Asian Legal Studies, a program that pioneered the introduction of East Asian legal systems and perspectives into American legal curricula. At Harvard, he taught both future president of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou LLM ’76 and future vice president of Taiwan Annette Lu. Later, as a human rights advocate, Cohen would help secure Lu’s release when she was a political prisoner.
In 1990, Cohen came to NYU Law, where he taught for more than three decades and established the US-Asia Law Institute. His courses on Chinese law and society, comparative international law, and business contracts and economic cooperation with East Asia, along with his Chinese language colloquium and weekly Asia Hour, opened doors for students to engage with leading academics, diplomats, and practitioners.
“Jerry’s legacy rests not only in his scholarship but also in the vibrant community he created here at NYU Law,” said Dean Troy McKenzie ’00 in a message to the Law School community. “He connected students with the wider world, inspired colleagues with his clarity and conviction, and championed the cause of justice across borders.”
An active mentor to many students, Cohen was also a trusted counselor to governments, NGOs, and international organizations. He lived in Beijing from 1979 to 1981, advising on trade and investment negotiations, and later served as of counsel at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Cohen held leadership roles with the Asia Society, the China Institute in America, Human Rights Watch–Asia, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His scholarship, which includes The Criminal Process in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–63; Contract Laws of the People’s Republic of China; and Investment Law and Practice in Vietnam, remains foundational. Cohen’s final book, Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law (2025), reflects on his lengthy and influential career.
Cohen spent much of his career pressing the Chinese government for rule of law reform. “Seeing the changes I’ve seen in China over the last 40 years, I know that it is possible,” he said in a 2009 NYU Law Magazine profile. “And what better use for my life? I’ve engaged in meaningful work, and I am having an impact.”
