When Richard J. Cohen gave up the role of managing partner at the Goldberg Segalla law firm in 2020, he was determined to strike a better balance between his work and his family life.
At the time, the pandemic had disrupted schooling, and Cohen and his wife had six children in elementary school.
Richard Cohen, a co-founder of the Cohen Vaughan law firm.
“I had to make a decision as to how to prioritize my time during a global crisis, and I chose my children above all else,” Cohen said.
Jump ahead to today, and Cohen, 61, has helped establish a new law firm, Cohen Vaughan. The firm launches on a large scale, with 18 offices, including one in Amherst.
Cohen insists he won’t fall into the same trap as he did before with his work.
“This time, I don’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders,” he said. “I’m going to have a level of balance in my life, this time, that I didn’t have at (Goldberg Segalla) and that I’ll never give up. I’ll never again put myself in a position to deprioritize my children.”
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Cohen was a founder of Goldberg Segalla in 2001. After stepping down as managing partner in 2020, he took a leave of absence and planned to return to the firm in 2021.
Just before coming back, he instead accepted a job with a South Carolina-based law firm as its chief strategist. He worked from Buffalo, intending to eventually move his large family – he and his wife have nine children altogether – to Charlotte, N.C.
That move never came together, so he opted to retire from the South Carolina firm about a year ago.
Cohen then set out to establish another law firm of his own, with attorneys whom he had either recruited or attempted to recruit in the past. While those plans were still taking shape, he ended up agreeing to a combination involving two other law firms. Cohen Vaughan was born.
The firm comes out of the gate with 75 lawyers in offices across seven states.
“It’s starting with a little more ambition than the one we started 25 years ago,” Cohen said. He attributes that to two factors.
Over the past two decades, Cohen said he has learned a great deal about starting, running and growing law firms.
“It’s a little bit easier to do it on a broader scale. And the opportunity presented itself to do it on a broader scale,” he said. “That’s an opportunity that didn’t exist the first time that I did it.”
Cohen Vaughan is headquartered in Philadelphia, but its “administrative nerve center” is in Amherst, at 500 Corporate Parkway. Cohen is based here, serving as chairman and chief development officer, along with three C-level executives. One of the other firms involved in the Cohen Vaughan partnership already had an office established here.
Cohen Vaughan, a newly formed law firm, has its administrative headquarters and back office on Corporate Parkway in Amherst.
Another facet of Cohen Vaughan that Cohen likes: its multigenerational leadership. Four of its founding partners and three of its high-level administrators are in their 30s and 40s. Instead of a managing partner, the firm divides its duties among 11 members of a “collaboration committee.”
In the Buffalo area, Cohen Vaughan enters a market where firms such as Hodgson Russ, Phillips Lytle and Goldberg Segalla are well established. Cohen said he looks forward to the new firm having a chance to introduce itself. And he feels confident about the client relationships that he and his fellow partners have built over the years.
“There’s no mandate (for Cohen Vaughan) to ever be 200 or 300 or 400 lawyers,” he said. “We don’t look at Hodgson Russ or Phillips Lytle or my prior firm as peers right now, or competitors, or even as prospective competitors.”
Cohen said he is excited to once again be launching a law firm, while keeping his workload manageable, this time.
“I am not going to overextend myself like I couldn’t help but allow to happen at the other firm,” he said.
Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy – from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.
‘Branch on wheels’ adjusts route
Bank on Buffalo, which operates a mobile branch known as a “branch on wheels,” is making a change to its route.
The mobile branch makes regularly scheduled stops at four locations, one day each week. One of those stops is the Doris Jones Family Resource Building in Niagara Falls.
Bank On Buffalo’s “branch on wheels.” (Derek Gee/News file photo)
Customer traffic at that location “has been somewhat lighter than expected,” said Mark DePalma, a bank spokesman. The branch on wheels will stop making visits to that location at the end of March.
The bank is looking for a new regular weekly stop in Niagara Falls and wants to have that established in April to ensure continuity, DePalma said.
Community Bank adding West Seneca branch
Community Bank plans to open a new branch at 325 Orchard Road in West Seneca – at the former Seneca Mall site – in the summer.
Community Bank already is preparing to open a new branch at 1091 Main St. in Buffalo on Feb. 18, and another branch at 3150 Sheridan Drive in Amherst this summer.
UB grad takes prosperous role at KeyBank
The new head of Key Family Wealth has a local connection.
Robert Weiss, head of Key Family Wealth. (provided photo)
Robert Weiss earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Buffalo in 1987. When he earned his MBA at UB in 1998, Weiss received the Charles H. Diefendorf Award in Finance, presented to the student who has made the greatest contribution to the field of finance.
In his new role at Key, the bank said Weiss will “collaborate across the enterprise to grow the ultra-high net worth client segment.”
Weiss is based in New York City. He was previously with JP Morgan.
Five reads from Buffalo Next:
1. Buffalo Niagara Partnership calls for full tech hub funding. The program is promoting development of the semiconductor sector.
2. More silos for Upstate Niagara dairy plant. Upstate Niagara Cooperative is planning an expansion in Cheektowaga.
3. What’s the growth potential for NBT Bank after Evans deal? NBT plans to close the deal May 2.
4. Sinatra opens Annex Apartments at former Children’s Hospital. The project consists of 36 apartments.
5. Back on track? Sinatra gets $4 million loan from state for stalled Heritage Point project. The Canalside project had stalled.
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Graham Corp. is planning another expansion in Batavia, while a shuddered Super 8 motel in that city is poised to reopen.
A Buffalo startup that helps first responders track personnel and other resources is getting an investment from the Western New York Impact Fund.
The stalled Heritage Point apartment and commercial space project at Canalside is getting a $4 million lifeline from the state.
What’s in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address for New York businesses?
Bankruptcy filings across Western New York are on the rise.
Looking to go to the Buffalo Bills playoff game this weekend? Here’s what it will cost you.
The Buffalo Planning Board has a message for the agency that wants to build a family shelter facility in the city: Talk to the neighbors.
The public has spoken, and now the committee overseeing the Buffalo Bills stadium Community Benefits Agreement is thinking about what it should recommend.
Doug Jemal is getting ready to start environmental cleanup work on the site of his proposed Skyway Loop project.
Tops Markets has a new second-in-command.
St. Bonaventure alumni are rallying behind a venture capital firm that aims to aid the university’s business school.
Health care agency CINQCARE is cutting more than 50 jobs in Buffalo.
The Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s is pushing for full funding of the tech hub planned for the Buffalo and Rochester areas.
M&T Bank obtained a judgment against former 43North winner Shearshare over its unpaid loan debt.
A former haunted house in Niagara Falls is slated to become a food hub.
Voss Manufacturing is planning to expand in Wheatfield.
The former CEO and president of TechBuffalo has been named the first-ever CEO of the 43North Foundation as it begins making a $100-million investment in Western New York’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
43North is hard at work introducing its latest cohort of winners to Buffalo.
Canada’s LP Custom Machining plans to construct a 33,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 5000 Porter Road in Niagara Falls.
The former head of TechBuffalo has been picked to lead the 43North Foundation.
New renderings show how the new Buffalo Bills stadium will feature wider, more open, concourses.
Despite shutting three local stores, Valu Home Centers executives say the home improvement chain is on solid footing.
The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the region’s economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Buffalo Next Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.
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