Stroock’s Joel Cohen Explores the Value of an Oath in New Book

Stroock senior counsel Joel Cohen — a veteran prosecutor, white-collar defense lawyer and author on legal ethics topics — considers what it means to take an oath as well as the implications of adhering to one in his new book: “I Swear: The Meaning of an Oath.”

The book, available from Vandeplas 2019, asks the reader to consider the consequences of varied oaths, along with the respective oath-takers’ duties under diverse circumstances.

The book includes 11 profiles of a wide-ranging group of Americans who took oaths of personal intent and professional requirement, including former Central Intelligence Agency Director Richard Helms; Dr. Samuel Mudd; and former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“The book is intended to make us think about the oaths we ourselves take alongside those taken by members of professional societies,” said Cohen. “In this particular time and place in our country, it is important to understand the impact oaths have on society and consider whether the sanctity of one declaration surpasses another.”

Cohen is a white-collar criminal lawyer and has spent the last 30 years of his career at Stroock. Prior to joining the firm, Cohen served as a prosecutor in the New York State Special Prosecutor’s Office and as an assistant attorney-in-charge with the U.S. Justice Department’s Organized Crime & Racketeering Section. Cohen is a regular contributor to the New York Law Journal, The Hill and Law & Crime, among other publications.

“I Swear” is available on Vandeplas, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.