Gail E. Cohen, J.D.

Gail E. Cohen, Chairman Emeritus of the Fiduciary Trust Company, has over 40 years of experience in the area of trusts and estates. She is a member of Fiduciary Board of Directors and also serves on the Board of Fiduciary Trust International of the South. Before joining Fiduciary Trust in 1994, Gail was a trusts and estates associate at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton. Previously, she was an associate at the law offices of Edward S. Schlesinger, P.C. She has the distinction of having served as the Association’s first woman Chair, as Vice Chair, and as Treasurer. Gail was named one of the “Top 50 Women in Wealth,” selected by AdvisorOne(2010 and 2011) and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). She holds the Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner designation, has been elected into the NAEPC Estate Planning Hall of Fame, and has been honored by the Trusts and Estates Lawyers Division of the UJA. 

Gail is a former member of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Estate and Gift Tax, which she chaired from 1998-2001. She has also served as an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law Schooland is a lecturer in the Masters in Wealth Management program at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Gail is a frequent writer and lecturer for attorney groups, including University of Miami’s Heckerling Institute (2014), the Notre Dame Tax Institute (2022), as well as Practicing Law Institute, the New York State Bar Association and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Juris Doctor degree, summa cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School. She is admitted to the Bars in New York and New Jersey.