Francine Pickett Cohen

My ex-spouse is a narcissist, willing to lie, use our child as a pawn, no matter how shameless, no matter how long and even at our child's expense. The smallest decisions between us require a debate and very careful consideration much like a chess match. Intelligent narcissists can master manipulatio...n and be almost impossible to get ahead of. Francine Cohen, consistently anticipated and was always prepared for whatever conflicts came our way. She listened to everything I was feeling and absorbed every historical detail I provided, she knew what I wanted to convey and then knew how to assure my thoughts would be clear, concise, effective, and most of all brilliant. Francine Cohen is a legal autocorrect, absolutely priceless. Unfortunately, so many times pressing matters requiring a quick decision would happen outside of the workday, on holidays, late hours moments before exchanges, etc. Fran never once left me waiting, I never had to make a decision without her providing her thoughts. So many divorces don't go to trial, mine did. Fran and Olga are militant when it comes to organization and preparedness during the trial. They have all documents available in seconds via Ipads as well as paper. if "God forbid the WiFi" stopped working or paper documents were not available, both ways were backed up. If the opposing counsel is unprepared, Fran and Olga would provide documents in order to prevent time from being wasted. Fran made hours of trial and questioning look effortless, she studied every detail of evidence, she picked up on so many things that I missed, she was fascinating to watch. A custody battle that becomes a war, requires weapons and a shield, Francine Cohen is the only weapon and shield you need.

My experience with Ms. F. P. Cohen is that she is a very nice woman but she was not a good lawyer. Firstly, for less than 6 months, I emptied my retainer and somehow ended up owing more than I could have imagined. And I was shocked because I probably only went to court about 3 or 4 times in that 6 mo...nth period. I later learned that she charged me for everything from phone calls to emails, meetings and so on and so forth. My services did not match all the money I wound up being responsible to pay. Also, in my opinion, she was not successful at upholding my image in court. She was not even able to portray my image in court and I have lived an upstanding life, all of my life. Basically, if your case is not cut and dry, and especially if it involves any serious accusations that require aggressive and direct representation ( namely custody-related court concerns), I would not recommend.

During my divorce and custody hearings over the last four years, I have worked with multiple attorneys in various states. I initially required the needs of an attorney in NY who would work closely with a jurisdictional attorney from another state, but Ms Cohen was such an outstanding litigator and p...rotagonist, and an extremely skillful communicator that i continued with her throughout the years and have never regretted one moment working with her. She has intelligence, character and grit and will fight like hell for her client. She is a virtuoso in the Richmond Court system where I have witnessed her finesse. She understands the nuances of the court system and the law as well as or better than any attorney I have worked with. She comes highly recommended.

My divorce, custody and child support litigation changed as the situation changed through the years (eg. Changes in child custody as to who was the custodial parent). In an atmosphere very unfamiliar and intimidating to me, I was so much in need of a stable support who was not only familiar with the ...court system but who could portray my needs and the multiple factors involved in my case to those making the decisions. Fran has been there for us as this support from the very beginning in 2006, through the years when I needed her legal support even to helping to facilitate a domestic settlement agreement last year. In my experience, it was always an instant relief when I'd see her on arrival to court and with Fran sitting beside me in the processes, I felt confident that I had a skilled advocate.