Our Attorneys

Merrill Robyn Cohen founded this law firm in 1994. Ms. Cohen handles complex business immigration matters for U.S. Permanent Residence and non-immigrant employment-based visas. Ms. Cohen advises corporations and individuals on a wide variety of immigration matters. She also represents individual professionals at the top of their respective fields including research scientists, lawyers, engineers, architects, computer scientists, athletes, TV producers, writers, architects, artists, actors, models, designers and musicians. Ms. Cohen was profiled in a feature article about her in the New York Law Journal magazine. She has been interviewed on CBS and FOX TV. In May 2008, Merrill Cohen gained international attention when her immigration client's fur coat was taken by Lindsay Lohan. Ms. Cohen filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York, which she later settled. The incident made international headlines including the front page of New York Post, and articles in People Magazine and many other national publications. Most recently, in October 2010, Ms. Cohen lectured to other lawyers on employment-based immigration matters. Previously, she was appointed to the Presidential Commission (2008), received the Congressional Medal of Distinction (2007), the Ronald Reagan Gold Medal (2005) and the National Leadership Award (2002 and 2003). She is also noted in Who's Who of Executives and Professionals, and serves as Honorary Co-Chairman of the Business Advisory Council. She is a longstanding member of the American Immigration Law Association. Merrill Cohen is a cum laude graduate of Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review. She is a cum laude graduate of Brooklyn College, with a major in Economics and a concentration in Film Studies. She is admitted to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Second Judicial Department, State of New York as well as to the U.S. District Court, SDNY and the U.S. District Court, EDNY.

E-Mail : mcohen@cohenlawfirm.com

mailto:adam@cohenlawfirm.com Adam S. Cohen has been practicing employment and family-based immigration law for more than nine years. His practice is focused on strategizing and preparing EB-1 Extraordinary Ability and Outstanding Professor/Researcher, EB-2 National Interest Waivers, and PERMs for research scientists, physicians and other professionals, as well as O, L, H, E, P, and R non-immigrant visa petitions. Mr. Cohen has served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at City University of New York, where he has taught Family-based Immigration Law as well as Naturalization and Citizenship, and as a Visiting Professor at Hofstra University School of Law, where he taught Legal Writing and Research as well as Appellate Advocacy. Mr. Cohen received his law degree, cum laude, from the Benjamin N.Cardozo School of Law in 2000, where he served on the Journal, Cardozo Studies of Law & Literature and was elected to the Order of the Coif, a national legal honors society. He received his B.A., cum laude, from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1997.

E-Mail : adam@cohenlawfirm.com

Elissa Banach joined our firm in July 2011. Ms. Banach's practice is focused on immigration & naturalization law and litigation. Her immigration practice includes representing corporations and individuals in petitions to obtain non-immigrant visa status, employment- and family-based U.S. Permanent Residence, and Naturalization. Her litigation practice includes representing clients at immigration, court, and arbitration proceedings, and drafting pleadings and other documents in matrimonial actions and no-fault medical bill litigation matters. Ms. Banach has experience representing the interests of American and Canadian businesses of various sizes in state and federal courts as well as before arbitration panels. Ms. Banach has also had several years of comprehensive and sophisticated experience in reviewing and analyzing legal issues and drafting and negotiating documents in immigration, litigation, corporate, and tax contexts. Prior to joining Merrill Cohen & Associates, PC, Elissa worked as a pro bono attorney in the Special Litigation and Civil Practice Divisions at the Legal Aid Society, as litigation counsel at Foreht Associates, LLP, as a tax attorney at KPMG LLP, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, and Aird & Berlis, LLP, and as an articling student at Fraser Milner Casgrain, LLP. Ms. Banach is admitted practice in New York State (2008) and Ontario, Canada (2006). In June 2005, Ms. Banach received her J.D. degree from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto, Canada, where she was awarded the McMillan Binch Prize in Contract Law and the Newton Rowell Entrance Scholarship. Previously, in June 2003, she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, where she was a Dean's List Scholar and was awarded the 'University of Toronto Scholar' prize for placing in the top 50 students in the Faculty of Arts and Science.

E-Mail : ebanach@cohenlawfirm.com

Contact the firm.