Two alumni confirmed as Court of Claims judges

Harpur College alumni Joel Cohen ’83 and Lilian Wan ’97 were named to the New York Court of Claims in June.

Wan, a New York City Family Court judge in Kings County, and Cohen, a former partner with Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City, were two of the eight judges confirmed by the state Senate.

Cohen, a Brooklyn native, majored in economics and was a member of the fraternity Tau Alpha Upsilon at Binghamton University.

“I chose Binghamton because it was one of the best public universities in the country,” Cohen said. “As a financial matter, private universities were not a viable option, so Binghamton was one of the best public institutions that I was aware of.”

Cohen knew for a long time that he wanted to pursue a career in law.

“From high school on, advocacy was something that interested me,” Cohen said. “I thought it came naturally to me and that it was something I wanted to pursue further.”

Cohen attended Georgetown Law School, where he ranked second overall in his class.

After graduating from law school, Cohen was a law clerk for a federal appeals court judge in Atlanta.

“After that, I started working at Davis Polk & Wardwell, a large international law firm, where I stayed for 30 years,” he said. “That was my longest tenured job since working at Nathan’s in high school.”

Cohen said that one of the achievements that he’s most proud of is when he worked on an important pro bono case, for which he received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the New York City Bar Association.

“I was a part of a team of young lawyers representing an inmate who was on death row in Georgia,” Cohen said. “We were able to get his death sentence and conviction overturned.”

Cohen now serves as an acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Manhattan presiding over commercial law cases, but said that he takes great interest in mentoring students who wish to enter the law field by being involved in the Binghamton University Law Council.

Wan is the first Asian-American woman to serve on the New York Court of Claims. She is a Long Island native who majored in English while also being a member of the track and cross-country team at Binghamton University.

“My most memorable moments at Binghamton included running during the fall season,” Wan said. “I enjoyed running on red and yellow colored leaves and hearing the crunching under my feet.”

Unlike Cohen, Wan did not know that she wanted to go to law school until graduation, but is now happy with her decision.

“Law school was one of the best decisions I made,” Wan said. “I went to Albany Law School. I worked very hard, and loved my professors, the internships that I did. It was an amazing experience that got me to where I am today.”

While in law school, Wan realized that she wanted to work in public interest and with children, but she didn’t know what all the options were.

“During my first summer internship, I wound up working at Lawyers for Children in Manhattan, which is a law firm that represents children who are in foster care,” Wan said. “After my second year, I was at the Brooklyn Legal Aid Society in the juvenile rights division.”

After graduating from law school, Wan worked at the Administration for Children’s Services for nine years. She later left that job for a position as a court attorney referee in surrogate’s court in King’s County. Following this, Wan was appointed to the Family Court Bench from 2012-2018.

“Within the first six months of working closely with another judge, I realized that I wanted to be one,” Wan said. “It never once crossed my mind before. I saw what goes into being a judge and saw that they’re real human beings who are doing their best to make the best decisions for people.”

Wan now serves as an acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Manhattan presiding over guardianship cases, but believes the best advice that she could give to a student pursing law is that reputation is key.

“Your reputation in the legal field is important,” she said. “Everyone knows everyone else, and you never know how the people you interact with may affect you in the future.”