I’m just like you – someone who went to college in search of a better financial future.
But it wasn’t what I learned in the classroom that changed my life.
Here’s How I Became THE Student Loan Lawyer
As a college student at Brandeis University, I had no idea about the ugly side of student loans until I spent some time working in the financial aid office as part of my own financial aid package. That’s when I got an up-close view of the ways that education finance can ruin your life if you’re not careful.
When I went to law school at Quinnipiac University School of Law I started learning about consumer protection law, and how people were severely underrepresented when it came to protecting their rights.
A professor got me in touch with Connecticut Legal Services (Legal Aid) and its unique consumer program – the Consumer Law Project for Elders (CLEP), where I was the first law student to ever ask to work for the program.
It was at CLEP that I met an elderly gentleman who had severely past due student loans from trucking school. The government was threatening to take his Social Security retirement check to repay the debts, so I jumped into action. With my help the retiree was able to avoid having his Social Security check offset, cure the student loan default, and start making affordable payments that didn’t leave him penniless.
As Josh began his third year of law school, the CLEP director invited Josh to a seminar being given by one of the Connecticut’s leading FDCPA attorneys. By the end of the seminar, Josh had lined up an interview with this lawyer and three weeks later started a part-time job as a law clerk at the lawyer’s firm, the Consumer Law Group.
In October of 2008 after a brief stint working for a well-known collection harassment lawyer, I opened the Law Office of Joshua R.I. Cohen to help people with student loan problems. In 2014, I changed the name to Cohen Consumer Law. Now I help with the following types of problems:
- assisting borrowers and their families with federal student loan issues of all kinds;
- defending debt collection lawsuits filed by student lenders;
- suing debt collectors for harassment and abusive conduct;
- suing creditors and credit reporting agencies for inaccurate credit reports; and
- settling overdue private student loan debts.
I also teach The Student Loan Law Workshop. If you’re a lawyer and want to learn more about the workshop, click here.
Here’s More About My Education and Credentials
In a nutshell, here’s what you probably want to know about me.
- B.A. in psychology from Brandeis University 1996
- M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix 2002
- J.D. from Quinnipiac University School of Law 2007
Bar membership:
- Connecticut – State and Federal
- Vermont – State and Federal
Association membership:
- NACA (National Association of Consumer Advocates)
- NACBA (National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys)
- ABA (American Bar Association)
- CBA (Connecticut Bar Association)
- VBA (Vermont Bar Association)
Speaking Engagements:
- Consumer Rights Litigation Conference, November 2011 (sponsored by NCLC)
- NACBA Annual Conference, April 2012, 2013, and 2015
- NACA and NACBA Webinars on Student Loan Law, 2011 and 2012
- CLE trainings for Bar Associations and Legal Aid Associations California, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont
- Presenter for MyLawCLE, NBI, and ABI regarding Student Loan Issues and Updates