Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds
Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds is about the life and career of Harriet Newman Cohen, one of the nation’s most celebrated divorce attorneys, as she navigated the male-dominated legal world from the 1970s to today.
This sweeping narrative details Harriet’s journey through three worlds: raising a family at a time when men held all the power, graduating from law school on the cusp of the “divorce revolution,” and re-fighting old battles over women’s rights in today’s time of reaction and retrenchment.
The frankness with which Harriet relates her own experience is matched by equally candid insights into how a legal system that often rewards bad behavior and irrational decision-making shapes the culture at large and impacts those trying to navigate their way towards a better life. Writing with candor and humor, Harriet describes her encounters with celebrities, mentors, notable judges, allies, and adversaries. She examines many cases but describes three in almost novelistic detail, all drawn from her own practice — including her pivotal role in the “Case of a Lifetime,” the focus of the three-part HBO documentary series Nuclear Family (2021).
Harriet is equally honest about the business side of the law — the financial cost and psychological burden these proceedings impose on families and the sometimes-heartbreaking collateral damage. Passion and Power illuminates both a singular life and the legal and social revolution that changed, in fundamental ways, the sexual, financial, and cultural norms governing the most intimate relations between men and women.
Harriet Newman Cohen is a founding partner of Cohen Stine Kapoor LLP, a matrimonial and family law practice, and has been practicing law since 1974.
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Reviews
- New York Weekly — Passion and Power: A Life in Three Worlds, review by Jeremy Murphy
- New York Law Journal — “Passion and Persistence: A Legal Trailblazer’s Life in the Law”, review by Daniel Kornstein (PDF)
- ABA Journal — “What’s On The Shelf? Understanding women in their lives is important for men’s happiness, divorce lawyer says in new book”, by Amanda Robert (PDF)
- Jewish Book Council review (PDF)
- Midwest Book Review (PDF)
Other Books by Harriet Newman Cohen
- Legal Briefs: The Ups and Downs of Life in the Law (2024) — Twenty top lawyers write engaging “behind the scenes” stories of their most fascinating cases, including a chapter by Harriet Newman Cohen on a landmark case addressing same-sex parental custody rights.
- Inside the Minds: “Helping Clients Achieve Happiness in Family Law Matters” — Chapter by Harriet Newman Cohen, Aspatore Books, 2016 (PDF)
- “A Glimpse Into Client Fears in Domestic Relations Cases” — Chapter in Heidi K. Brown’s Untangling Fear in Lawyering, American Bar Association, 2019 (PDF)
- The Divorce Book for Men and Women: A Step-by-Step Guide to Gaining Your Freedom Without Losing Everything Else — by Harriet Newman Cohen with Ralph Gardner, Jr., Avon Books, 1994