About Jonathan D
Jonathan D Cohn studied government and law as an undergraduate at Lafayette College, earning his B.A. in 2004. He continued his legal education at Albany Law School, completing his J.D. in 2008. Those years shaped an early interest in criminal and traffic-related practice and laid the groundwork for his courtroom work.
After law school he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Karen Drago through the New York State Unified Court System's Legal Fellows Program in 2008. That clerkship exposed him to trial procedure and the practical demands of case management. The following year he joined the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office as an assistant district lawyer, where he handled prosecutions and learned to manage a heavy caseload under tight deadlines.
In 2010 he entered private practice and became a partner at Gerstenzang, Sills, Cohn & Gerstenzang. Over the next decade he built a trial practice that has included vehicle and traffic matters and criminal defense. He has represented individuals at arraignments, contested hearings and jury trials, and he has filed and argued motions at both the trial and appellate levels.
Professional involvement has been a consistent part of his career. He has served as the chair of the Vehicle and Traffic Law Committee of the New York State Bar Association, a role that places him in the center of policy discussions and continuing legal education on traffic issues across the state. He also has been active in the National College for DUI Defense. He served as the organization's state delegate from 2015 to 2019 and has been on its faculty since 2018, contributing to seminars and training sessions for defense lawyers.
Colleagues describe him as methodical in the courtroom and prepared at hearings. He draws on his prosecutorial experience when advising clients about strategy and likely outcomes. He also brings courtroom familiarity from his early clerkship days, which he uses to anticipate procedural developments and evidentiary disputes.
He maintains his practice in New York and continues to handle cases that touch on vehicle and traffic law, DUI defense, and related criminal matters. He currently represents clients in state-level criminal and traffic proceedings, and in matters that proceed through trial and appeal.
