Celebrating 66 Years in Communications Law

Welcome. You have reached the law offices of Cohn and Marks LLP, Washington D.C., at our site on the Internet. Cohn and Marks LLP provides specialized legal representation to local, regional and national electronic communications media, including broadcast, cable television, telecommunications, cellular telephone, wireless radio and satellite communications industries.

About This Site. This site is intended to open a dialogue with Internet users concerning legal aspects of the revolution taking place in communications today. The site currently includes information on recent developments in communications law and the analysis and perspective of Cohn and Marks LLP attorneys on a number of the larger long-range issues that will confront communications law and policy in the twenty-first century. Background information on the firm is also provided.

Cohn and Marks LLP was founded in 1946. Radio broadcasting was then a young medium. Approximately six commercial television stations were in operation in the United States. Less than one percent of the nation’s households owned a television set -- all analog at that time! A revolution was at hand.

Developments in communications during the past 64 years have changed forever the way we live and relate to one another. Today, a new revolution is at hand, one primarily the result of a technological triad -- the silicon chip, digital technology and fiber optics. All know that new broadband, computer-based, interactive technology will change our lives and our relationships in ways both subtle and profound. But what will the changes be? Try imagining the future of television from the highest hilltop in 1946. So it is today.

The business of communications law and policy today is to attempt to envision and help shape the social consequences of the current revolution in communications technology. To foster the benefits the new technology promises -- and to avoid the dangers it may pose -- represents the greatest challenge ever to confront communications law and those who make and practice it.