National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy
MORT COHEN, J.D.
For four decades, Mort Cohen has been a champion of the rights of disadvantaged and marginalized individuals - people in psychiatric institutions, in prisons and jails, and in nursing homes. Professor Cohen litigated Riese v. St. Mary;s Hospital, the landmark case which vindicated the right of persons in California facilities to refuse psychiatric drugs. His efforts in a lawsuit filed by California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform resulted in the promulgation of new statewide regulations restricting the use of chemical and physical restraints on residents of nursing facilities. Cohen's dedication through decades of litigation resulted in the closure of a notorious San Francisco jail and improvements in conditions at other area jails and prisons. In the 1970s, he represented defendants prosecuted by the government following the uprisings at Attica and at Wounded Knee. The author of numerous books, manuals, and articles, Professor Cohen has taught civil procedure and criminal law at Golden Gate University School of Law for over 30 years. He also lectures and leads discussions on the constitutional and statutory rights of individuals with psychiatric disabilities before the California Association of Mental Health Patients’ Rights Advocates and other groups.
With prodigious energy (he still runs marathons) and a passion for public service, Cohen seems younger than his 70 years. The Brooklyn-born son of a truant officer, he knew early on that he wanted to work toward improving conditions for vulnerable populations—particularly the poor, the elderly, the incarcerated, and persons with psychiatric disabilities. As a Ford Fellow at Harvard Law School, he first began representing clients pro bono. Later he served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and as a consultant to the California Mental Health Association and California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. Professor Cohen directed the Constitutional Law Clinic at the School of Law, which was part of the Western Center for Constitutional Rights.