Zebersky Payne Shaw Lewenz is a boutique litigation and trial law firm that handles almost exclusively high-stakes litigation matters. Though its flagship office is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Zebersky Payne Shaw Lewenz handles complex commercial litigation, class actions, consumer protection litigation, personal injury, and wrongful death matters across the United States and the world.

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Matthew E. Kohen

Partner & Chair of

Business Transactions

Fort Lauderdale
mkohen@zpllp.com
954-595-6073

Matthew E. Kohen

Partner & Chair of

Business Transactions

Fort Lauderdale
mkohen@zpllp.com
954-595-6073

Matthew E. Kohen is a Partner and Chair of the firm’s Business Transactions Practice Group. He focuses his practice on the representation of companies, investors, and funds in complex capital raising, merger, acquisition, and investment transactions. His corporate, investor, and investment fund clients operate in a wide variety of industries, including technology, financial services, and supply chain and logistics.

Through his experience in a unique variety of transactions, Mr. Kohen has represented public and private companies in a various industries in transactional matters, including pubic securities offerings (SPACs, warrant tender offers), debt financings (negotiation of significant credit facilities and corporate debt offerings), private equity transactions (recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts), and various general corporate and capital formation matters for startup and growth companies (SAFEs, convertible notes, equity financings, joint ventures). Due to the variety and sophistication of the transactions handled by Mr. Kohen, he is able to identify the often-unforeseen risks associated with complex and unique deals. As such he routinely advises both companies and insurers on matters related to representation and warranty insurance.

Mr. Kohen is also a leading expert in blockchain and digital currencies. Mr. Kohen has counseled some of the industry’s leading companies and investors on matters involving core developer fiduciary duties, anti-trust laws in connection with blockchain “forks”, and risk mitigation for users and maintainers of smart contracts. Mr. Kohen is a sought-after commentator on the rapidly-developing legal and compliance landscape for financial technology companies and has been featured in numerous publications such as The Daily Business Review, American Banker, Law360, ABA Journal, CoinDesk, CoinTelegraph, and The Regulatory Review. He is also the co-author of the leading treatise on state regulations affecting virtual currencies, published quarterly by Thomson Reuters.

Mr. Kohen served as Innovation Committee Chairman on the Young Alumni Board of the University of Miami Law Alumni Association Board of Directors, and he has lectured at the University of Miami School of Law. He has been deemed a “Super Lawyer Rising Star” by his peers from 2017-2022 and has been nominated and confirmed to serve as a member of Dade Legal Aid’s Leadership Academy.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

American Bar Association
One Community One Goal, Miami-Dade County’s official economic development organization

  • Miami-Dade Beacon Council
  • Information Technology Committee

InfraGard, Communications, Financial Services & Information Technology Sectors
Florida International Bankers Association, Innovation Committee

AWARDS

Super Lawyer Rising Star, 2017-2023
Author of the top article in Finance & Banking, Securities by the JD Supra Readers’ Choice Awards, 2020
Recognized as a Top Article in Finance & Banking, Securities by the 2020 JD Supra Readers’ Choice Awards
Dade Legal Aid Leadership Academy, 2019
Top author in cybersecurity by the JD Supra Readers’ Choice Awards, 2016

BAR ADMISSIONS

Florida 

EDUCATION

University of Miami, J.D., Magna Cum Laude

  • Dean’s List
  • University Of Miami Law Review

American University, B.A. Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, Government (C.L.E.G.)  American University, B.A. Political Science

 

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS

IN THE PRESS