Goldberg Kohn Principal Appointed to the Board of PILI

April 28, 2008

Frederick H. Cohen, Principal in the law firm of Goldberg, Kohn, Black, Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd., was recently appointed to the board of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI).

The Public Interest Law Initiative strives to facilitate equal access to justice by creating opportunities for law students and lawyers to perform public interest and pro bono activities through education, work experience, and the delivery of legal services.

PILI works to build professional relationships into working partnerships between educators, law students, law firms, corporations, attorneys, and legal services agencies. Leveraging legal resources into legal assistance creates a culture of service that furnishes poor people with powerful tools to overcome a host of legal obstacles. Buying a home, becoming a citizen, adopting a child, securing disability benefits, gaining asylum – such achievements and a host of others – are made possible through legal assistance.  PILI builds a culture of service that changes lives and opens opportunities for futures of prosperity, success, health, and fulfillment.

Mr. Cohen has a deep commitment to pro bono work.  He is lead counsel for a class of the 600,000 children on Medicaid in a class action lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.  His work in that case has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of additional healthcare for this group of children.   Based on his pro bono work, Mr. Cohen is a 2006 recipient of the Excellence in Pro Bono Award from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, a 2005 recipient of the American Academy of Pediatrics Child Health Advocate of the Year Award and a 2004 recipient of the Equal Justice Award from the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.  Mr. Cohen was awarded the 2007 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Public Justice Foundation (he was a finalist for the award in 2006). 

Mr. Cohen has built his reputation litigating false claims act cases, patent and trademark infringement matters, class actions, health care matters, business tort and contract cases, e-commerce issues, and state and local tax challenges.  He has amassed a string of courtroom victories, and in his most recent victory obtained the largest jury verdict in the history of the False Claims Act.  In 2007, the National Law Journal included Fred Mr. Cohen in its list of ten of the nation's top litigators.  Based on his trial successes, the National Advocacy Center, which is run by the United States Department of Justice, invited Mr. Cohen to be on its faculty to train experienced Assistant United States Attorneys on trial skills.