24 | MAY 6 • 2021
T
wo luminaries of
the Michigan legal
community — one at
the prime of her profession,
and the other retired after
an illustrious 70-year career
— will be honored in a free
online event presented by
the Jewish Bar Association of
Michigan (JBAM).
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s
attorney general since 2019,
will receive JBAM’s inaugural
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Champion of Justice Award.
At the same event, United
States District Judge Avern
Cohn, who retired in
December 2019 after four
decades on the bench, will
receive JBAM’s first Lifetime
Achievement Award.
JBAM’s 2021 Awards Event
will be held on Zoom at 6
p.m. Tuesday, May 25. The
festivities are free and open
to the community. RSVP at
jewishbar.org.
DANA NESSEL
Attorney General Nessel has
championed justice both
before and after becoming
attorney general. A graduate
of Wayne State University
Law School, she served in the
Wayne County Prosecutor’s
Office. Afterward, in private
practice, she represented
a lesbian couple in a
groundbreaking adoption
case that eventually led to
the U.S. Supreme Court
legalizing gay marriage
throughout the country.
As attorney general, Nessel
formed a Hate Crimes Unit
and an Elder Abuse Task
Force. She has worked to
protect consumers and sued
manufacturers of PFAS
pollutants. A Democrat, she
is the first openly LGBTQ
person elected to statewide
office in Michigan.
“Ruth Bader
Ginsburg
embodied the
essence of a
trailblazer,”
Nessel said.
“Her lifetime
commitment to
advancing gender
equality and equal protection
for all persons set a standard
I strive to meet and serves as
a reminder of the work that
must continue.
“It is not lost on me that
I will humbly accept this
honor in its inaugural year
as the Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Champion of Justice Award.
I deeply appreciate this
recognition and remain
committed to reinforcing
the late justice’s advocacy
for current and future
generations.”
AVERN COHN
Judge Cohn served on the
U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Michigan
from 1979-2019. When he
was appointed by President
Jimmy Carter, he was the
only Jewish judge on that
court.
“I grew up at a time when
a Jewish federal judge was an
important symbol to the total
Jewish community,” Cohn
said in a 2004 interview with
journalist Charlotte Dubin
for the Leonard N. Simons
Jewish Community Archives.
Cohn was a 1949 graduate
of University of Michigan
Law School. His 30-year
law career leading up to
the judgeship included
working in the firm of
his father, famed attorney
Irwin Cohn, which later
merged into Honigman
Miller Schwartz and Cohn
in Detroit. He also served as
chair of the Michigan Civil
Rights Commission and on
the Detroit Board of Police
Commissioners, where he
advocated for affirmative
action to increase the
number of Black and female
police officers.
His many volunteer roles
in the Jewish community
included serving as president
of the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit,
1981-1983. He has also
been a supporter of Jewish
education, including
Orthodox day schools. Like
his father, Avern Cohn
was awarded Federation’s
Fred M. Butzel Award for
distinguished community
service, the honor of which
he is most proud.
At the event, JBAM
will also award Charles J.
Cohen Esq. Law Student
Scholarships to Jessica
Davidova of Wayne State
University Law School
and Chase O. Yarber of
University of Detroit Mercy
School of Law.
The Jewish Bar Association
of Michigan provides
education, resources and
camaraderie for lawyers and
legal support to the wider
community. For information,
visit jewishbar.org.
OUR COMMUNITY
Avern
Cohn
Jewish Bar Association of Michigan to honor two top lawyers.
Legal Kudos
DAVID SACHS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Dana
Nessel
Ruth Bader
Ginsburg