Bio

Jonathan V. Cohen helps guide companies in the telecommunications, broadband and media sectors as they evaluate and cultivate business opportunities in a constantly shifting legal, regulatory and political landscape, leveraging his over 30 years of private practice and government experience in policy and transactional matters. He regularly advocates on behalf of clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other executive branch agencies whose policy decisions affect their interests. In addition, Mr. Cohen is a recognized expert in spectrum and media transactions, and particularly in the rules and processes governing spectrum auctions (including incentive auctions). He has assissted numerous broadcast and wireless industry clients in formulating, negotiating and consummating major transactions, and in gaining required regulatory approvals for them. Mr. Cohen holds the Martindale Hubbell AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating, has been selected multiple times as a Washington DC Super Lawyer, and has been singled out for nationwide recognition by his clients for “outstanding service” on corporate and commercial transactions. He joined the firm in 1998 after serving five-and-a-half years in senior staff positions at The White House and the FCC, where his work earned awards and recognition from a national legal publication. At the FCC, he was responsible for crafting rules to govern spectrum auctions, directed the FCC's first broadband PCS auction, formulated wireless competition and media policies, and spearheaded the FCC's effort to ensure that wireline telecommunications carriers adequately addressed the Year 2000 computer problem. He also was counsel to the President's Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. Before entering government service, Mr. Cohen practiced law in Washington, D.C., and prior to law school, was a news reporter at a major market radio station. Mr. Cohen speaks often at industry conferences and client seminars, and periodically writes columns for telecom publications. He serves on the board of a local non-profit organization.