Directors' College 2018
Rodgin Cohen
Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Rodgin Cohen is Senior Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, having served as Chairman from 2000 to 2009. The primary focus of Mr. 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.
Mr. Cohen provides corporate governance advice to a large number of financial and non-financial institutions, both regular clients and as special assignments, including on matters of corporate culture and related topics. He is also a frequent advisor on the rise of strategic and corporate governance activism and its impact on institutions and he deals frequently with multiple regulatory issues arising from this activism. He also advises the financial services industry on the full range of regulatory, merger and acquisition, compliance and enforcement matters. He frequently works with all the bank regulatory agencies as well as multiple other governmental agencies. Key recent regulatory matters include the Volcker Rule, numerous other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, international capital and liquidity standards, cybersecurity, and resolution and resolution planning.
He has played a singular role in the market events that have changed the face of the financial services industry and economy, for which The American Lawyer named Mr. Cohen among its 50 “Innovators in Big Law in the last 50 Years” in 2013, for his ideas, policies and practices that have left a mark on the legal industry. The Clearing House has also recognized Mr. Cohen’s accomplishments by presenting him the Chairman’s Achievement Award in 2014. In 2016, Mr. Cohen was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the fourth time for his banking law practice at the Who’s Who Legal Awards, noting that he “has been at the vanguard of developments affecting Wall Street and exemplifies the dedication and commitment of lawyers to not just their clients but also to shaping laws and regulations.” Most recently, Mr. Cohen was inducted into Legal500’s Hall of Fame and received 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.”
Mr. 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, Economic Studies Council of 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.
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