David Cohn is the Managing Senior Partner of Chain, Younger, Cohn & Stiles. Mr. Cohn, a Bakersfield native, was born on December 27, 1949. He attended local public schools graduating from West High School in 1968. In 1972, he received his Bachelor's Degree Cum Laude in political science from the University of Southern California. Mr. Cohn graduated from Southwestern University School of Law in 1975. During law school, he clerked for the then Federal Public Defender, John Van de Camp. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Cohn joined the firm in 1975, and became a partner in 1980. He became the Managing Partner in 2000.
As a young attorney, Mr. Cohn was exposed to several areas of practice, including criminal law, family law, and public employee law. In 1979, he became the partner-in-charge of the firm's Workers' Compensation practice. During his tenure as the partner-in-charge of the Workers' Compensation Department, the firm established the largest Workers' Compensation practice in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. In addition to his management of the Workers' Compensation Department, Mr. Cohn also established the firm's Social Security practice.
As a result of Mr. Cohn's experience managing the firm's Workers' Compensation Department, he became recognized as an expert in obtaining additional civil damages for workers who were injured on-the-job. Many of these on-the-job civil cases involved oilfield, agricultural, construction site, and product liability actions.
With over 27 years of jury trial experience, Mr. Cohn has become recognized as one of the most highly regarded trial attorneys in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition, Mr. Cohn has tried and obtained substantial verdicts on behalf of his clients in Southern California, most notably obtaining one of the largest six figure soft tissue verdicts in Orange County during the early 1980's. Mr. Cohn also obtained the largest multi-million dollar jury verdict in the firm's history.
Mr. Cohn is past president of the Kern County Trial Lawyer's Association. He is also a sustaining member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, American Trial Lawyer's Association, and Kern County Bar Association. He has served as an expert witness and is a frequent court appointed arbitrator. Mr. Cohn served as a member of the City of Bakersfield Planning Commission from 1985 through 1993 during which time he served two years as the Commission's Chairman. He is past president and remains on the Executive Board of the Bakersfield Museum of Art. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
Mr. Cohn has three beautiful daughters attending college. They are pursuing careers in medicine, fashion design and marketing, and veterinary medicine. Mr. Cohn enjoys scuba diving and cycling.
David K. Cohn