Jennifer R. Cowan

Pro Bono Counsel & Litigation Counsel

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New York

Tel: +1 212 909 7445

Overview

Jennifer Cowan is the firm’s Pro Bono Counsel and a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. She leads the firm’s award-winning pro ... Read Full Biography

Experience

- Represent plaintiffs in litigation challenging the FBI’s use of the No Fly List as a way to pressure Muslim men to inform on their religious communities. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in December 2020 that plaintiffs could sue for damages under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the litigation was remanded to district court.
- Five detainees at Guantanamo Bay pro bono in habeas and other actions, including winning a grant of the writ of habeas corpus and the release of all five clients.
- Afghan refugees in the United States and other countries seeking safety and a secure future.
- Ripple in a ruling against the SEC in the SDNY holding that Ripple’s digital token XRP is not a security or “investment contract” in many circumstances.
- A global pharmaceutical company in its settlement with the SEC for alleged disclosure failures.
- Oaktree in its settlement with the SEC relating to alleged violations of the pay-to-play provisions of the federal securities laws.
- Carlyle in a New Mexico qui tam action brought against numerous private equity firms under that State's false claims statute.
- Toyota Motor Sales USA in various state and federal investigations relating to vehicle acceleration issues. These included 29 state attorney general investigations, congressional inquiries, SEC investigations, and Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, all of which settled without any criminal convictions for the company.

Education

Columbia Law School, 1997, J.D.
Barnard College, 1991, B.A.

Jennifer Cowan is the firm’s Pro Bono Counsel and a member of the firm’s Litigation Department. She leads the firm’s award-winning pro bono program, which includes litigation, corporate and tax matters, and involves more than 800 pro bono matters each year. She also oversees pro bono initiatives and, with the Co-Chairs of the Pro Bono Committee, sets the strategy for the firm's pro bono work. Ms. Cowan leads teams on a range of pro bono representations including impact litigation, immigration, not-for-profit organization law, and housing matters and mentors and provides strategic guidance to lawyers working on pro bono matters.Her commercial practice includes white collar and regulatory matters, including defense of government investigations, internal investigations and general commercial litigation. Ms. Cowan has extensive experience representing clients in trading inquiries by FINRA after the announcement of corporate transactions and other significant events. She also provides advice to clients on federal, state and local pay-to-play and campaign finance laws.Ms Cowan is a Fellow in the Sterling Network NYC, a decade-long multi-sector network tackling issues of economic mobility in New York City.She is a member of the Board of the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House, in Long Island City; and a member of the Board of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation. Her professional affiliations include being a member of the National Women’s Law Center Leadership Advisory Committee; the Pro Bono and Public Service Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; the Public Service Committee of the Federal Bar Council; and the Government Relations Committee of Nonprofit New York.Ms. Cowan was the recipient of the Legal Aid Society Public Interest Law Leadership Award in 2021.Prior to joining the firm in 1998, Ms. Cowan was a law clerk to the Hon. Jan E. DuBois in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Cowan received her J.D. in 1997 from Columbia Law School, where she was a Stone Scholar, a research and writing editor for the Journal of Law and Social Problems and a recipient of the James A. Elkins Prize in Constitutional Law. She received her B.A. magna cum laude in Political Science, with honors, from Barnard College in 1991.