Fireside Chat and Book Event to Feature Alumna Harriet Cohen ’74 and New Memoir Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds
Brooklyn Law School will welcome alumna Harriet Newman Cohen ’74 back to campus on Tuesday, March 17, for a fireside chat and book event celebrating her recently published memoir, Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds (Bloomsbury, February 2026).
The event will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Subotnick Center and will include a moderated conversation, followed by questions from the audience, a reception, and book signing. Copies of Passion and Power will be available for purchase.
Cohen, a founding partner of the New York City–based matrimonial and family law firm Cohen Stine Kapoor LLP, is widely recognized as a trailblazer in her field. In Passion and Power, she reflects on more than five decades in the legal profession, tracing her career from the early 1970s—when she graduated from Brooklyn Law School and women were still rare in courtrooms and law firm leadership—through periods of significant cultural and legal change affecting families, gender equity, and the practice of law.
Starting Anew and Blazing a Trail at Brooklyn Law School
In an interview at her midtown Manhattan office, Cohen explained that her experience at Brooklyn Law School was a pivotal part of her memoir and she fondly recalled classes with renowned professors, including Hon. I. Leo Glasser ’48, Joseph Crea ’47, Sam Hoffman, Fabian Palomino, and former Dean Jerome Prince, who signed the well-worn copy of Prince on Evidence that she proudly keeps on an office shelf. Although she feared that being 18 years out of grad school would make her an outsider, Cohen found a sense of belonging in a community where just 10 percent of the class were women.
"When I was admitted to Brooklyn Law School in the spring of 1971, I was 38 years old with little money, a failing marriage and four beautiful daughters to support," Cohen said. "It was unusual at that time for women of my age to be back at school, and I was one of three who were the older students. We were known as the 'returnees.' I don't remember who named us, but it stuck…and even our professors referred to us that way. We had taken different paths to Brooklyn Law School, but it was more than circumstance that united us. We had all seen enough of life to understand the great opportunity that lay before us, and we were all determined to make the most of it, and we did."
Blending memoir with legal and social commentary, the book explores Cohen’s experiences balancing a demanding legal career with family life, navigating the evolution of family law during the "divorce revolution," and confronting renewed challenges to women’s rights in more recent years. She also recounts encounters with influential judges, mentors, and adversaries, and examines landmark cases from her own practice, including her involvement in the "Case of a Lifetime," later chronicled in the HBO documentary series Nuclear Family.
A Discussion About Cohen's Literary and Law Careers
At Brooklyn Law School, Cohen will discuss the themes of Passion and Power in conversation with David D. Meyer, President and Joseph Crea Dean of Brooklyn Law School. Their discussion will touch on the intersections of personal narrative, professional responsibility, and the broader social forces that continue to shape family law today.
Cohen earned her J.D. cum laude in 1974 from Brooklyn Law School, where she served as an editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College in Latin with a minor in Music and an M.A. in Latin from Bryn Mawr College. It was a full 18 years after her graduation from college before she entered Brooklyn Law School. Cohen writes about that time as well as the sacrifices she and her family had to make when she decided to go to law school.
Over the course of Cohen’s career, she helped craft and shape New York’s equitable distribution law, served as president of the New York Women’s Bar Association, sits on the Board of Directors of The Lotos Club (Mark Twain’s cultural club) and other cultural boards, and has been repeatedly recognized among the state’s leading matrimonial attorneys. In 2020, she was named Brooklyn Law School Alumna of the Year.
Cohen remains active in her practice and views retirement as "the enemy."
For general inquiries regarding this event, please contact the Brooklyn Law School Office of Events at events@brooklaw.edu or (718) 780-0321.