Rate My Professor Jerome Cohen

Cohen authored foundational publications such as The Criminal Process in the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1963: An Introduction (1968), People’s China and International Law (1974, with Hungdah Chiu), Contract Laws of the People’s Republic of China, Investment Law and Practice in Vietnam, and Challenge to China: How Taiwan Abolished its Version of Re-education Through Labor (2013, with Margaret K. Lewis). His memoir, Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law, was published in 2025. Among his honors are the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from Japan (2018), the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon from Taiwan (2020), the American Foreign Law Association Lifetime Achievement Award in International Law (2021), and an honorary doctorate from Yale University (2020). Cohen resided in Beijing from 1979 to 1981 as a consultant for Coudert Brothers, becoming the first Western lawyer to practice under communist rule, and later served as of counsel at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison until 2000, advising on China investments. He held leadership roles with the Asia Society, China Institute in America, Human Rights Watch–Asia, and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, while teaching courses on Chinese law and society, comparative international law, and business contracts with East Asia. Cohen mentored generations of lawyers and scholars, advocated for rule of law reforms in China, and facilitated high-profile cases like the refuge of activist Chen Guangcheng at NYU.