Lawrence Cohen
Executive Consultant

Lawrence Cohen is an Executive Consultant at Marks Paneth & Shron LLP. He rejoined the firm after having served for many years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Griffin Group, the investment and management company of the late Merv Griffin.

Drawing on his deep experience in the media, entertainment, hotel, casino, retail and real estate industries, Mr. Cohen provides counsel in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, financing and operational management. He is also well versed in the needs of high-net-worth individuals. Mr. Cohen has had business interests in the Los Angeles area for more than 25 years and shares responsibility for the firm’s operations on the West Coast.

Mr. Cohen’s first association with Marks Paneth & Shron began in the 1980s at Paneth, Haber & Zimmerman, a predecessor of today’s firm. He later joined The Coca-Cola Company as a financial executive in its entertainment division and was intimately involved in its spin-out as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc., a NYSE-traded company. In 1988, Mr. Cohen left The Coca-Cola Company to serve as the Chief Financial Officer of The Griffin Group. He became the company’s Chief Executive Officer in 1997. He has also served on the boards and audit committees of both privately held and publicly traded entities and was an Executive Producer of the DVD retrospective of The Merv Griffin Show.

Mr. Cohen has a passion for addressing children’s needs. He has served on the Arizona steering committee of Childhelp USA, an institution dedicated to abused children. He has also been instrumental in the formation of a treatment center for children and young adults afflicted with autism in New York.

A certified public accountant for more than 25 years, Mr. Cohen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude in Economics and Accounting from Queens College of The City University of New York. He resides in Great Neck, New York and divides his business time between the West Coast and Marks Paneth & Shron’s midtown Manhattan headquarters.