Special Features -- Remembrances of Philip F. Cohen

Abstract

I first met Phil Cohen in 1958 when I attended the AALL Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., just before commencing my first law library job as assistant librarian in the Rutgers University Law School Library. Changing careers after seven years of stressful law practice in lower Manhattan filled me with some trepidation and much uncertainty. Phil's warm, avuncular welcome to the profession was reassuring and calming. Our common interests—rare books and the Columbia Law School (where he had worked and I had attended law school) made for quick bonding. His easy manner and vast knowledge of both law librarianship and law publishing accelerated my learning process into those arcane but essential subjects. He persuaded me quickly that I was coming into a humane and fascinating field. He introduced me around and offered informal sketches of the many new personalities I met. His insights were later proved remarkably accurate by my own observations. Throughout my subsequent career, Phil Cohen remained a good friend, a reliable and discreet confidante, and a thoughtful sounding board for new ideas, crucial decisions, or just plain advice.