Mediator Resume

Attorney, Arbitrator and Mediator with more than 30 years of experience handling complex commercial transactions and resolving disputes through litigation and arbitration. Practice encompasses a wide range of business matters, including financial services; commercial real estate; valuation and appraisal disputes; purchase and sale agreements; partnership and shareholder disputes; office, industrial, and retail leasing; construction and design issues; brokerage fee disputes; secured lending and loan workouts; land use and development; manufacturing; and co-op and condominium matters.

Law Office of Jonathan T.K. Cohen, PC, New York NY - Managing Partner

Attorney, Arbitrator, Mediator

Managing Partner / Owner, The Law Office of Jonathan T.K. Cohen PC, 2006 - Present; Director and Shareholder, McCusker Anselmi Rosen & Carvelli, PC, 2001 - 2006; Partner, Fishbein Badillo Wagner Harding, 2000 - 2001; Counsel, Friedman Siegelbaum, 1996 - 2000; Associate, Lowenstein Sandler, 1989 - 1996.

Extensive experience managing complex litigation and transactional matters involving commercial, financial service, real estate, construction, manufacturing, and other business areas Commercial litigation experience includes representation of national and regional commercial and investment banks, commercial borrowers, developers, business and property owners, national and local tenants, construction, architecture, management, and design professionals, non-profit organizations, restaurant and hospitality entities, manufacturers and distributors. Subject area concentration includes commercial loan disputes, commercial foreclosure, receivership, and bankruptcy; shareholder and partnership disputes; construction and design conflicts; valuation disputes; purchase and sale agreement matters; entertainment agreements; brokerage fee disputes, commercial leasing conflicts; and land use, zoning, title, development and condemnation disputes. Transactional experience includes work as lead counsel for complex commercial, finance, and real estate matters, including purchase, sale, finance, leasing, and industrial redevelopment projects; zoning and land use; construction and design contracts; professional service and licensing agreements; brokerage agreements; eminent domain; formation of companies; and general counsel representation of businesses and non-profit organizations. Representative litigation and arbitration matters include: • Financial service disputes involving hundreds of millions in commercial loans. • Partnership and shareholder disputes involving management, leasing, valuation, buy-sell and governance related conflicts, up to $100 million in dispute. • Valuation disputes involving office, industrial, retail, mixed-use, hospitality, and multi-family properties, including conflicts addressing market sale, income, and rental valuations. • Litigation between foreign fruit growers, bottlers, distributors, and US wholesalers involving production, quality, and contractual disputes. • Litigation between national shopping center owners and anchor tenants involving construction, rent, contract, and design-related disputes. • Estate and trust dispute between adverse family members involving financial and commercial property assets of about $75 million. • International arbitration between NYC consulting firm and foreign food and beverage company involving marketing agreement for US operations. • Multi-party litigation involving lenders, owners, tenants, and municipality addressing suburban shopping center zoning, development, construction and historic preservation disputes. • Trial and appellate litigation involving fraud and fraudulent transfer claims. • Multi-party disputes between non-profit community organization, developer and municipality involving design, construction, land use, and approval issues. • Numerous brokerage, auction and business referral agreement disputes. • Lender-liability claims related to bank's financing of automobile dealerships. • Commercial landlord-tenant and leasing disputes on behalf of landlords and tenants.

Have served as a Mediator of about 120 litigation and arbitration disputes involving business and manufacturing contracts, commercial lending and development, construction, and other complex commercial disputes. Representative matters where settlements have been achieved include: • Multi-party party litigation between retail businesses, property owners, and utility company involving eminent domain, commercial leasing, business and real property valuation, and construction issues in dispute. • Multi-party litigation between wine distributor, foreign vineyard owners, and US wine sellers regarding contractual disputes, partnership conflicts, and product quality disputes. • Contractual and production dispute involving manufacturer and co-packer of beverage products and major international beverage company. • Litigation between builder/developer of 100,000 SF multi-use NYC building and adjoining owners involving construction disputes. • Multiple disputes involving law firm partners involved with partnership agreement and compensation allocation disputes. • Dispute between wholesale manufacturer and seller of luxury home products and retail store owner and purchaser of goods. • Multi-party litigation involving construction-defect claims between Board of very large multi-building NYC co-op complex, building contractors, and design professionals. • Multi-party family business conflict involving NYC wholesale food business, commercial property holdings, and complex development issues. • Multi-project and multi-venue litigation between builder and developer of multiple town home projects and its mill-work contractor. • Litigation between country's largest mall owner and tenant involving monetary claims and property condition counterclaims. • Claims and counterclaims between luxury home builder and owners related to design, construction and payment issues. • Litigation between large residential rental building complex and security company regarding fees and service counterclaims. • Litigation between adjoining NYC Building owners involving seller and purchaser of luxury condominiums involving alleged off-site conditions. • Litigation between owner of new 10,000 SF luxury home and its HVAC contractor. • Disputes between project developers, owners and architects related to payment disputes and alleged professional negligence. Have served as lead counsel in financial service, commercial real estate, and construction-related disputes, including matters involving: • Representation of shopping center owner in three-party dispute with national anchor tenant and prior property owners regarding alleged structural defects and lease interpretation disputes. • Representation of foreign grower and distributor of apple products in litigation against major juice manufacturer involving contract, product quality, and payment disputes. • Representation of business and property owner of heavy industrial asset involving condemnation, valuation, business relocation, and environmental remediation issues. • Multiple disputes involving restaurant properties, restaurant leases, and restaurant partnership related disputes. • Multi-party litigation involving investment bank client taking control of shopping center property involved with zoning and historic preservation disputes, construction conflicts, and development agreement dispute involving adverse local government, property owner, and tenant groups. • Representation of property owners, developers, and contractors involved with NYC and New Jersey development and construction related disputes. • Trial and appellate litigation on behalf of banking clients involving fraud and fraudulent transfer claims between financial institutions, borrowers, and construction companies.

• Comparative rights and liabilities between owner and general contractor when owner terminates contract for evident construction flaws, but cancellation procedure violated contract requirements. • Comparative rights and obligations and contributions of parties involved in product quality, payment, distribution, and internal partnership disputes between international wine distributor, French vineyard and wine producers, purchasers, distributors and retail sellers of wine in US. • Liability of business partners when alleged contractual obligations are inferred through conduct instead of written contractual language. • Rights and liabilities of adverse parties involved in co-packing production agreement dispute applicable to substantial beverage production contracts. • Monetary and non-monetary claims and counterclaims between movie producer, director, and distributor involved in multi-party contract interpretation, distribution, and payment disputes. • Developer's duty to exercise diligence and care in pursuing development and building approvals. • Determinations of fair-market rental value of properties during lease option term(s) in connection with retail, office and industrial properties. • Disputes between law firm partners regarding division of fees, ambiguous contract terms, and practical desire to maintain ongoing good working relationship. • Disputes involving commercial landlord's right to keep security deposit funds due to alleged property defects at time of Lease's expiration, even if defects have little relevance to future use.

Most proceedings begin with a phone or video conference attended by representatives of all parties in order to preliminarily address the anticipated process, the status of core issues in dispute, and the scheduling of procedures. Most matters include submission of adverse position papers before the actual mediation session commences. The meditation session generally begins with a joint session attended by all party representatives and counsel, followed by different levels of alternating private caucus sessions with different parties that vary from matter to matter. A facilitative approach to the process is initially pursued in order to improve communication and understanding between the parties, with discussions addressing approaches to settlement being gradually explored. When it is perceived to be helpful and desired, I may exchange timely and sensitive evaluative dialogue with adverse parties, on a confidential basis, as an additional approach to avoiding or breaking impasses and to improve the parties' ability to consider different paths to a resolution. Because the details and personalities in each dispute are unique, each matter is approached with patience and an open mind to the positions of each party, sensitive to the fact that different individuals may have very different approaches to how they communicate and to the pace at which they are able eventually reach a full negotiated settlement. This has led to successful mediation proceedings that have involved significant levels of direct communication between adverse parties, and counsel, to disputes which have been resolved with minimal to no direct contact between adverse parties. Many of my earliest, and most successful, mediation matters involved court-ordered sessions, with parties initially very skeptical about the process. This enhanced my ability to be flexible and persistent with many types of diverse parties, including adversaries who may initially appear unable or unwilling to negotiate a compromised settlement.

Experienced at managing arbitration and mediation proceedings through electronic means, including Zoom and other platforms. Have participated in numerous professional CLE programs focused on technology and ADR, including use of AI to analyze, summarize and document different types of information. Successfully completed Clearbrief Academy, November 2025.

University of Pennsylvania Law School (LLM, Commercial Law Concentration - 1989); City University of New York Law School (JD - 1988); State University of New York at Albany (BA, Magna Cum Laude - 1982).

Admitted to the Bar: New York (1989), New Jersey (1989); Federal and State Courts: New York, New Jersey. Real Estate Broker License: New York.

Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators ("FCIArb"); Member of American Bar Association and ABA Committees on Alternative Dispute Resolution; Member of New York State Bar Association and its Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution; Member of New York City Bar Association; Member of Valley Bank's Professional Advisory Council between 2005 and 2015; Director of Northern New Jersey condominium complex between 2008 and 2012; Director of NYC co-op corporation between 2014 and 2022, and Director of East Hampton NY Homeowners Association between 2017 and 2022.

Commercial Mediation Training Facilitator involved in New York State Rule 146 Mediation Training Program in 2021 and 2022; Featured Speaker for presentation to APPRAISAL INSTITUTES' Long Island NY Chapter and NEW YORK MORTGAGE BANKERS ASSOCIATION on subject of arbitration and mediation of valuation and bank litigation disputes, October 2016; Featured Speaker on Arbitration and Mediation of valuation and appraisal disputes before APPRAISAL INSTITUTE'S Northern New Jersey Chapter, December 2011.

Travel time to and from hearings and conferences within the New York City metropolitan area is not billed except to the extent that travel time may exceed one hour each way.

Hourly Rate: $600.00 Daily Rate: Not provided Study Rate: $600.00/hr Cancellation: Not provided Cancellation Period: Not provided Comment: Local NYC metropolitan travel time for hearings and conferences, of up to one hour each way, is not billed.

English

United States of America

New York, New York