Staff Reports
A noted Tampa attorney is now finding himself on the other end of a courtroom, facing accusations of nearly $70K in unpaid rent.
According to a suit filed April 18 in Hillsborough County, attorney Barry Cohen’s law firm — The Barry A. Cohen Legal Team — owes more than $69,000 in back rent payments on its Fifth Third Center office in Tampa.
Cohen, 78, is one of Tampa Bay’s most-recognizable criminal defense attorneys, prominent in several high-profile cases, including keeping Jennifer Porter out of jail after her deadly hit-and-run in 2004 that killed two children. He also got charges against Steven and Marlene Aisenberg dropped in 2001. The couple was the only suspects in the disappearance of their 5-month-old baby in 1997. Cohen also won the Aisenbergs $3 million in fees.
Cohen’s firm was in the 19-story Fifth Third Central building on Kennedy since at least 1993.
In a February interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Cohen revealed he was fighting leukemia and announced he closed his law firm after 43 years.
Nevertheless, Cohen is still licensed; he told the Times he “doesn’t believe he has stood in his last courtroom.” Cohen set up an office at home and is keeping his hands on a few cases, in case his cancer goes into remission.
Farley White Gaslight, owner of the Fifth Third Central building since 2017, issued a 3-day notice to the firm April 11 to either pay up or vacate the property. The suit alleges that Cohen’s firm did neither.
As a result, Farley is taking its case to Cohen’s familiar stomping grounds — Hillsborough County courts — seeking repayment plus eviction.
Since Cohen personally guaranteed the lease, Farley is naming him as a co-defendant.
