First Close Partners
Jeffrey Cohen is an experienced legal professional with a focus on bankruptcy and restructuring. Currently serving as an Adjunct Professor at St. John's University School of Law since April 2022, Cohen is also a Partner at First Close Partners since March 2021. At Lowenstein Sandler LLP, Cohen has held several leadership roles since January 2017, including Chairperson of the Bankruptcy & Restructuring Department and Vice Chair of the Bankruptcy, Restructuring, and Creditors’ Rights Group. Prior professional roles include Bankruptcy Partner at Cooley LLP from June 2002 to January 2017 and Associate positions at Cooley LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP from 2000 to 2002. Cohen earned a JD, cum laude, from St. John's University School of Law in 2000 and a BA from the University at Albany in 1997, in addition to completing the Executive Education program at Harvard Law School in May 2022.
First Close Partners
First Close Partners backs venture funds owned by underrepresented managers (“URMs”) -- especially to help them get to a “first close.” The company invests in venture capital firms owned and operated by URMs who are people of color, women, LGBTQIA+, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, and members of other groups that have been historicallyunderrepresented, especially (but not solely) in the venture capital industry. The venture capital funds into which they have invested are predominantly located in the US, Europe, and Africa.