Professor of Practice
Biography
From Dentons
Chuck Cohen is the Co-Founder of Cohen & Grigsby (now Dentons Cohen & Grigsby). During his 50-year career as a practicing lawyer, he has concentrated on matters of corporate governance, securities regulation of capital formations and business combinations. For more than 40 of those years, he has been a dedicated member of the faculties (with various continuing appointments) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (1976-present), Ave Maria School of Law (2010-2018), Duquesne University Law School (1973-75) and West Virginia University School of Law (1990). Chuck has also completed many engagements as an expert witness, arbitrator, mediator and lecturer in continuing legal education programs.
He is currently active as a member of the Board of Directors of two large privately owned corporations and as a law professor on the subjects of Business Organizations, Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance, while serving as an advisor to the Firm management and certain of its clients.
Key/Recent Publications
Representative Publications and Speaking Engagements
- Author, "A Primer on the Basic Themes and Structures of Securities Regulation" (July 2016)
- Author, “A Primer on Corporate Governance Principles” (July 2014)
- Presenter, “Raising New Capital - Legal Aspects,” Florida Gulf Coast University 9th Annual Entrepreneur’s Law School (January 2009)
- Presenter, “Raising New Capital - Legal Aspects,” Florida Gulf Coast University 8th Annual Entrepreneur’s Law School (January 2008)
- Author, “Personal Liability of Directors for Corporate Legal Compliance Failures: Review of State Law Principles,” 10th Annual Federal Securities Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (2007)
- Presenter, “Raising New Capital - Legal Aspects,” Florida Gulf Coast University 7th Annual Entrepreneur's Law School (January 2007) Co-author, “The 2005 Securities Offering Reform,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (Summer 2006)
- Co-author, “Securities Offering Reform-101,” 9th Annual Federal Securities Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (2006)
- Co-author, “Another Mutation of Section 12(a)(2) – The SEC's Securities Act Reform Proposals,” 8th Annual Federal Securities Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (2005)
- Author, “Insider Trading OK’d Without Confidentiality Agreement,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (Winter 2003)
- Co-author, “No Comment - If Martha Stewart Had Just Said Nothing, She Wouldn't Be In This Pickle,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (June 17, 2003)
- Co-author, “A Worthy Restoration Project - Implication of a Private Remedy Under Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933,” CCH Securities Regulatory Update (December 23, 2002)
- Co-author, “Is "Fair Dealing" Required When Freezing Out Minority Stockholders?,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (Winter 2001)
- Author, “Insider and Outsider Liability for Trading on Material Nonpublic Information,” 4th Annual Federal Securities Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (2001)
- Author, “New Requirements for Audit Committees,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (Summer 2000)
- Author, “Enhancements to the Role of the Audit Committee,” 3rd Annual Federal Securities Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (2000)
- Author, “Safe Harbors in Cyberspace Measures for Avoidance of Securities Law Liabilities,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (Spring 1999)
- Author, “Safe Harbors in Cyberspace,” 2nd Annual Federal Securities Law Forum, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (1999)
- Quoted, “Power Lunch-Pittsburgh's Prestigious Duquesne was Recently Named America's Finest City Club; Hardly News in a Town Where the Landmarks and its Founders are Bedrocks of History,” Executive Report (September 1997)
- Author, “Recent Supreme Court Decisions Make it Harder to Sue for Securities Fraud,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (Spring 1996)
- Author, “Why Corporations Need to Develop a Legal Compliance Code,” Cohen & Grigsby Review (April 1995)
- Featured, “Most-Seated Pittsburgh Area Corporate Directors,” Pittsburgh Business Times (November 29, 1993 and November 28, 1994)
- Co-author, “SEC Changes Bring Equity Markets to Small Business,” Allegheny Business News (December 1992)
- Author, (Book Review) “The Law of Securities Regulation,” The Journal of Law and Commerce, University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Vol. 7, Issue 1, 1987)
Other Activities
Professonal Organizations
- Member, American Law Institute, American Bar Association and Pennsylvania Bar Association
Civic Organizations
- Honorary Director, Health Care Network of Southwest Florida (2018-)
- Honorary Director, Eye and Ear Foundation (2018-)
- Trustee, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2011-2014)
- Chairman, Squirrel Hill Health Center (2011-2015)
- Trustee, Squirrel Hill Health Center (2006-2011; 2015-2016)
- Director, Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Central Blood Bank (1985-2009)
- Trustee, Jewish Healthcare Foundation (1994-2006)
- Chairman, Board of Trustees, Jewish Healthcare Foundation (2002-2005)
- Director, LifeSource Blood Services (1995-2005)
- Director, Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (2002-2004)
- Member, Board of Advisors, Department of History, Carnegie Mellon University (1995-2002)
- Trustee, The Pressley Ridge Schools Foundation (1993-1999)
- Trustee, Jewish Association on Aging and Riverview Center (1991-1998)
- Trustee, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (1993-1995)
- Trustee, United Jewish Federation (1991-1994)
- Trustee, Eye & Ear Institute of Pittsburgh (1985-1992)
- Trustee, Eye & Ear Hospital of Pittsburgh (1983-1990)