Twenty-five years ago, RJ Cohen was a young partner in one of the oldest and largest law firms in Buffalo. In 2001 he left that firm with a few of his fellow partners and started their own firm, which was named after his two primary professional mentors – each a generation older than him. For the next 20 or so years he served as the Managing Partner and chief strategic architect of that firm, which grew into an AmLaw 200 national firm. He also recruited more than 700 lawyers to that firm throughout his tenure.In 2021, a year into the global crisis of a pandemic the likes of which had not been seen for 100 years, he received an offer to join his long-time buddies in another growing multi-state firm – one that was based in the Southeast but which had begun to expand well beyond its geographic origins. For a wide variety of reasons, he considered it an offer he couldn't refuse. RJ's intention was to move to Charlotte with his wife and their six youngest kids. Unfortunately, logistics and life prevented that from happening, and in February of 2024, RJ retired from that firm.
