Roy Cohen is named a 2019 Pennsylvania Trailblazer by The Legal Intelligencer in their inaugural list. The Pennsylvania Trailblazer list spotlights individuals who are agents of change and have made significant marks on the practice, policy, and technological advancement of their practice.

PIONEER SPIRIT Roy Cohen launched a construction law firm at a moment when construction ground to a halt. It was 1988, and savings and loans around the country were rapidly failing, in a precursor of the financial crisis of the 2000s. But Cohen persisted, attending meetings of trade associations and other industry groups to make contacts who would prove valuable for decades to come. That three-person firm now consists of 65 lawyers, has offices in five states and the District of Columbia and represents more than 200 clients from the construction industry. “I’m probably the least mechanical person around:’ Regardless, Cohen cracked the code: “Construction is based on time, and time is money.”

TRAILS BLAZED As the firm grew, Cohen developed a specialty within a specialty. He represents almost exclusively electrical and mechanical contractors. “They are the parties who are most likely to be impacted if the job is delayed or if there is compression and acceleration (in the work schedule).” In a case involving a new National Security Agency data center in Utah, he secured a settlement that allowed his client, an electrical contractor, to collect almost all it was owed.