NADINE COHEN

MANAGING ATTORNEY

Consumer Rights Unit at Greater
Boston Legal Services (GBLS)

Vertical Divider

Nadine Cohen is the Managing Attorney of the Consumer Rights Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS). A major focus of her work has involved Foreclosure Prevention and Predatory Lending.  The Consumer Rights Unit provides legal representation to low-income homeowners facing foreclosure, particularly those who have been victimized by predatory and abusive lending practices.  The Consumer Rights Unit has recently expanded its work to represent clients in Debt Collection cases in a Lawyer for the Day Program in several District Courts, to work on credit reporting issues, consumer scams and to hold Consumer Rights Clinics.  We also engages in impact litigation, community education, legislative advocacy and work in coalition with community and government organizations to develop systemic approaches to address foreclosure and consumer issues.  Nadine has been a civil rights lawyer for over 20 years.  Prior to joining GBLS she was senior staff counsel at the Boston Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she developed and directed the Committee’s Fair Housing Project and handled numerous individual and class action housing discrimination cases, employment, voting rights, school desegregation, and other civil rights cases, in federal and state courts, and administrative agencies.  She has conducted numerous trainings on housing discrimination law, including predatory lending, and has presented at many national conferences. She was named by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the top ten Lawyers of the Year in 2004.  She has been honored by the NAACP, the Women’s Bar Association, HUD, the National Lawyers Guild, METCO, the National Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Righs, the Newton Human Rights Committee and other groups for her work on civil rights issues.  Nadine helped found the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, and currently serves as a member of the Center’s Board of Directors.  She also has been on the Board of Directors of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and advocates for fair lending policies on a national level.  She has been an appointee to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Advisory Committee, serving at the request of the Governor.