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

