James I. Cohen has been a Partner with Verrill Dana since 1999. He has been a member of the firm since 1991. Mr. Cohen concentrates his practice in government and public relations, banking and financial services, and public utility regulation. He is also a former Mayor of the City of Portland.
BACKGROUND
Education and Community Service. Mr. Cohen grew up in Portland, received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and his J.D. from the Columbia School of Law. As a Portland resident, Mr. Cohen has served on numerous community boards, including a term as president of Portland Trails; founding president of the North Deering Neighborhood Association; and vice president of budget and finance for the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Cohen is a trustee of the Maine Public Spending Research Group and the Maine Association of Mediators. As a board member of the Portland Community Chamber, he is spearheading the Portland Regional Chamber’s effort to establish a regional economic development authority in partnership with the Metro Regional Coalition.
Political Experience. From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Cohen served on the Portland City Council, including a term as Mayor of Maine’s largest city. During his tenure, Mr. Cohen successfully spearheaded initiatives ranging from expanding Portland’s creative economy, to helping form and then chairing a six-community partnership called the Metro Regional Coalition; to helping form a Joint Task Force to address renovation of the Cumberland County Civic Center; to hosting two regional bus transit summits in collaboration with MaineDOT and the Governor; to developing the Volunteer Portland website and eContact constituent services system; to chairing committees to renovate a local elementary school and expand the Portland International Jetport. As Mayor, Mr. Cohen organized the Sustainable Portland Task Force and was the first mayor in Maine to sign onto the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Climate Action Plan in 2006. He received a Service for the Environment Award from the Sierra Club for his efforts. Mr. Cohen also established the Mayor’s Healthy Portland Task Force to promote walking and biking and to curb public smoking; in recognition of these efforts, Mr. Cohen received the Ruth M. Shaper Memorial Award from the Maine Association of Public Health. Mr. Cohen was the first-ever chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, and in 2006 he served as vice-chair of the Community and Faith-Based Initiatives Task Force of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mr. Cohen presided over the formation of a regional crime lab, and received a commendation from the Portland Police Department for his efforts. Mr. Cohen chaired the City Council’s Finance Committee and Cumberland County’s Budget Advisory Committee. As Mayor, Mr. Cohen hosted a monthly call-in cable television program, and during his six years of public service frequently appeared on television, on the radio, or in the local press – including as a columnist in a local newspaper.
PRACTICE AREAS
Government and Public Relations. Mr. Cohen is a director of Maine Street Solutions, Verrill Dana’s Government and Public Relations arm. He is also listed in Best Lawyers in America for Government Relations Law.
Banking and Financial Services. Mr. Cohen chairs Verrill Dana's Banking & Financial Services Group. He is a former chair of the Consumer and Financial Institutions Section of the Maine Bar Association, and he has regularly provided regulatory and transactional advice to banks and financial institutions with regard to State and Federal banking and consumer credit laws.
Public Utility Regulation. Mr. Cohen chairs Verrill Dana’s Telecommunications Group, and he is a member of the firm’s Energy and Water & Wastewater Groups.
- Energy. Mr. Cohen assists investor and consumer-owned transmission and distribution utilities in transactions and regulatory proceedings ranging from rate setting, to rate design, to purchase power and special rate agreements, to mergers and acquisitions, to rulemakings and customer complaints, to Commission audits and investigations.
- Telecommunications. Mr. Cohen advises many of the nation’s largest providers of telecommunications services on a wide range of matters before the Maine PUC and Maine Legislature.
- Water & Wastewater. Mr. Cohen has represented numerous municipal and consumer-owned water systems in transactions, rulemakings, and litigated proceedings before the Maine PUC, including main extensions, mergers and acquisitions, local governance, regional cooperation, eminent domain, rate setting, rate design, right-of-way, customer complaints, and Commission investigations.
Mediation and Facilitation. Mr. Cohen is a certified mediator and is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Maine Association of Mediators.
OTHER AREAS OF EXPERTISE
For more information about James I. Cohen, please click on the practice area headings above.
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