Ashley Cohen is a licensed attorney and managing partner at the Bonjean Law Group. She started working at the Bonjean Law Group in July 2014 and graduated from New York Law School in May 2015. She assists Bonjean in all aspects of litigation by managing and conducting discovery, drafting and editing briefs, supervising and managing support staff, participating in evidentiary hearings and trials. Cohen is also responsible for the overall management and day-to-day operations of the law firm.
Cohen has served as co-counsel in four Section 1983 civil rights trials including Wrice v. Byrne, et. al., 14 CV 5934 ($6.2M verdict), Stadler v. Abrams, et. al., 13 CV 2741 ($300,500 verdict), Harrison v. Atlantic City, et. al., 2014 CV 06292 ($700,000 settlement mid-trial) and Polanco v. Dabney et, al., ATL-L-1986-09 ($150,000 verdict). She has also assisted in obtaining settlements in excess of $15M dollars in several civil rights cases.
Cohen has also participated in several post-conviction proceedings handled by Bonjean Law Group pro bono by conducting investigations, interviewing witnesses, drafting post-conviction petitions, assisting in litigating evidentiary hearings, and developing pattern and practice evidence of misconduct. Since joining BLG, Cohen has assisted in the exoneration of at least ten individuals serving long-term and/or life sentences for murder(s) they did not commit. People v. Maysonet, 92 CR 10146; People v. Almodovar, 94 CR 24318; People v. Ochoa, 03 CR 1532; People v. Reynaldo Munoz, 85-C-0124(03); People v. Jeremiah Cain, 99-cr-09739(03); People v. Carlos Andino, 94-CR-21462(01); People v. Nelson Gonzalez, 93-CR-18247; People v. Reginald Henderson, 94-CR-11503(01); People v. Fabian Santiago, 93-CR-07368; People v. Adolfo Rosario, 88-CR-11260.
Cohen grew up on Long Island, New York. She went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interest in criminal defense spurred during her first semester of college in a criminal justice in America course where she learned about wrongful incarcerations. She instantly decided to pursue a legal career geared towards helping those who were wrongly convicted of crimes. She double majored in legal studies and sociology, and minored in criminal justice.
After graduating from Wisconsin, Cohen attended New York Law School and gained ample experience working for organizations and in clinics focused on wrongful conviction work. She interned at the New York Innocence Project as a communications intern, participated in New York Law Schools Post-Conviction Innocence Clinic and worked as a summer intern at the Exoneration Initiative (EXI), a non-profit organization that provides free legal services to wrongly convicted individuals whose cases lack DNA.
During Cohen’s involvement in the NYLS Post-Conviction Innocence Clinic, she assisted in the appeal of a clients second-degree murder conviction for forcibly shaking a child. She was responsible for reading through case files containing transcripts, medical research on Shaken Baby Syndrome, testimony, expert affidavits, and briefs. She also appeared in Monroe County Supreme Court for arguments on a C.P.L. § 440.10 motion to vacate judgment. On December 16, 2014, the shaken-baby conviction was reversed. The ruling marks the first time a shaken-baby conviction had been overturned in New York on the basis of changing science. (Read more here)
Cohen met Bonjean during the summer of 2014. They instantly connected on their shared desire to crack down on police brutality, prosecutorial misconduct and wrongful convictions. In her final year of law school, Cohen was a member of New York Law School’s Criminal Defense Clinic (“CDC”). CDC students engage in the actual practice of criminal law in conjunction with an experienced Legal Aid Society attorney. She represented a number of clients charged with misdemeanor offenses. It was through her clinic teacher that Cohen met Bonjean. Bonjean had opposed Cohen’s CDC teacher in a civil lawsuit and made the introduction.
Cohen is a member of the bar in the states of New York, New Jersey and Illinois. She is also admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, District Court of New Jersey, Northern District of Illinois General and Trial Bars and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Seventh Circuits.