White Plains, NY.--January 9, 2003- Radical lawyer Stanley L. Cohen, a 1983 graduate of Pace Law School, will lead the Philip B. Blank Memorial Lecture on Attorney Ethics, January 22, 2003. Cohen is known for representing controversial clients including members of the Islamic Resistances Movement Hamas and accused terrorist. He has also represented alleged members of the IRA and Shining Path, and activists from numerous movements for social and political change including the American Indian Movement, anti-war resisters, anarchists, squatters, activist priests. On other occasions he has represented journalists, artists and attorneys who have been singled out based of their beliefs and speech. His lecture entitled Representing Controversial Clients:  Deconstructing Ethical Considerations will stress the importance of an attorney upholding the ethical underpinnings of his or her profession, especially during times of heightened fears and concerns for internal security. The lecture will be held at Pace Law School in White Plains, NY at 4:00p.m.

"The legal profession has a responsibility to see that all individuals have the right to counsel regardless of their race, beliefs, or affiliations. This fundamental right is what this country is based on," says David S. Cohen, Dean of Pace Law School. "Stanley L. Cohen believes deeply in the Bill of Rights, and is willing to represent even the most unpopular individuals to uphold it."

Cohen may be best known for his successful defense of Mousa Abu Marzook, the head of the Political wing of Hamas, whose extradition from the United States was sought by Israel in 1995. He has represented scores of other Muslim and Palestinian activists and imams throughout the United States. Since 9-11 he has represented numerous Muslims swept up by federal investigations throughout the country.

Currently, Cohen is in the final stages of a four month pro bono defense of a young Palestinian charged with the first prosecution under New York’s hate crime statute, is counsel for one of six defendants in Portland, Oregon charged with providing material assistance to a terrorist organization, is representing on appeal an individual convicted in North Carolina for raising money for Hezbellah, and is assisting in Alabama in the criminal defense of Sheikh Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as Rap Brown, a famed leader of the Black liberation movement in the United States in the 1960's.

For more than a decade, Cohen has served as counsel for the Warrior Society of the Mohawk Nation in Northern New York and Canada, a traditional Indian movement which has been in the forefront of the struggle for indigenous self determination, self defense and sovereignty. Since the mid-nineties he has served as an advisor and counsel to numerous mosques and Islamic organizations. He is widely known as an outspoken advocate for the rights of Palestinians in their efforts to reclaim their State and has long been identified as one of the most ardent critics of United States policy towards Muslims at home and abroad.

After graduation from Pace, Cohen went to work for the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society in New York City as a staff attorney handling thousands of felony matters including homicides and other serious offenses. After leaving Legal Aid, he went into private practice as a sole practitioner initially specializing in criminal defense, handling trial and appellate work in various state and federal courts throughout the United States. As a result of his extensive experience in criminal defense and pro bono death penalty work in Alabama, Cohen was among the first group of certified capital defenders in New York when it re-instituted the death penalty.

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is located in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. The School offers the J.D. program for full-time, and part-time day, and evening students. Its post-graduate program includes the LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in Environmental Law and an LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs and its Clinical Education Program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, securities arbitration, criminal justice, and disability rights.