NOT JUST ANY LAW OFFICE SUITE
My husband Arnee, formally Arnold Shep Cohen, Esq., spends most of his waking hours trying to help working people live a better life. He has practiced law since 1976 and found his niche, or you could say, discovered his calling, fighting in the courts for all working men and women.
It may be out of the ordinary, but his specialty firm handles a diversity of public and private sector labor union and plaintiff-side employment cases. That includes employment discrimination, whistleblower cases, and worker’s compensation.
For practically his entire career, starting in the 1970s, he has been collecting prints of working people to fill his law office walls. Walking through the office is like strolling through a museum dedicated to working people. Stop in…no legal advice is necessary…he would be happy for you to tour the rooms.
That theme flows over to his weekly radio show, which first hit the airwaves in July 1997. Weekly, he interviews people about their jobs on The World of Work, at WDVR-FM. Tune in on Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m., Eastern (recently moved from Fridays at 4:00 p.m.), for interesting and educational discussions about work.
If that’s not enough, he’s been teaching Labor Law courses as an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Rutgers School of Law, in Newark, New Jersey, for nearly 40 years. At all legal events we attend, it goes without doubt that a former student approaches him to say his course was the best that they took in law school.
We’ve been married since June 15, 1975, but it was only since the beginning of the COVID pandemic that he started mainly working from home, where I can attest to his 24/7 dedication to his work. He does most of his cases by ZOOM and even teaches his students online from the comfort of their homes to ours.
As a dedicated volunteer, he broadcasts his radio shows from home with a board set up to connect with the station in quaint Sergeantsville, New Jersey. That beats traveling the “hour plus” to the Old Blacksmith’s Shop (right next door to Sergeantsville General Store), home of WDVR-FM radio in Sergeantsville.
Please call in advance, at 973-642-0161, if you yearn to explore this boutique law office, located at 60 Park Place in Newark, New Jersey. Ask for Chris, settle on a recommended time to visit, and he will escort you through the 6th-floor suite of offices. Meanwhile, remember to tune in to the radio at 89.7FM in the listening area and found on the web at www.WDVRFM.org, now broadcast on Tuesdays at 5 pm. Missed a show? Feel free to access the archives online at WDVRFM.org. Find hundreds of the WOW broadcasts there, with additional older shows archived regularly.
Maybe you’ve been a guest on The World of Work (WOW) or would like your 15 minutes of fame, or possibly you know someone who would be a good guest. “Shep,” known by his middle name as the host of WOW, would love to hear from you. Respond in the comments below, and I’ll pass along the information. In the meantime, scroll down to enjoy this virtual tour highlighting the theme of his office suite.
Step into my husband’s Newark, New Jersey Labor Law Office Suite
This poster of striking Teamsters walking the picket line, Blythe Strike, Florida, 1966 leads into the office suite
Hanging throughout the office walls are numerous posters from the Images of Labor Collection
The office suite has an extensive Ralph Fasanella collection to view - see more below
As you enter the suite of offices a numbered print called “Heinz and Hardhats” greets you
While waiting in the reception area, view such pieces as U.S. Textile Worker’s Strike 1934
Along your way to my husband’s office, see the scaffold workers
Peak in the office kitchen and see a painting of a bakery worker
While in the kitchen turning your head around to all four walls bedecked with art works, don’t miss the painting of Newsies
Don’t miss Jacob Lawrence’s Ironers in the office kitchen
Step into the library/conference room for a look at a collection of Ralph Fasanella’s posters and Images of Labor
One of many works of self=taught artist Ralph Fasanella hanging throughout the office suite
Pay Day
Steelworkers
There are even postage stamps of working people framed and hanging in the office suite
Glance in the offices or down the hallways to see posters showing strikers and workers
Sally Field as Norma Rae
1913 Striking Paterson silk workers congregating at the Botto House, The American Labor Museum, in Haledon, New Jersey
1968 Memphis, Tennessee = Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while in Memphis in support of the striking sanitation members
My father and my brother Al, letter carriers, were on the picket line during The Great Postal Strike of 1970
One of my favorites — this poster hangs over the copy machine in the reception area -
”The boss needs you. You don’t need the boss!”
Painting of farmers hangs on wall in my husband’s office
With our proud parents when my husband became a Deputy Attorney General in New Jersey at the start of his law career 1976
Underneath the photo is a framed Expression of Gratitude from the American Labor Museum where my husband serves as secretary on the Board of Trustees
Highlighting some of the Labor Day Cards the office of Oxfeld Cohen, PC has sent over the years
Classic lunchbox found in my husband’s office showing “Rosie the Riveter”
“Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who joined the military,” from Wikipedia