MARBLEHEAD – Before 2008, if you had told pet law attorney Jeremy Cohen he would someday be arguing a dog custody case before the Massachusetts Appeals Court, he would have said that you were barking up the wrong tree.

However, he did just that a couple of years ago, and won the case.

In doing so, Cohen and the North Shore-based Boston Dog Lawyers helped establish a legal precedent for shared custody of pets in the state.
Cohen’s legal advocacy on behalf of pets has also helped lead to passage of a new law regulating pet boarding facilities called Ollie’s Law.

Boston Dog Lawyers’ practice includes dog bite defenses, wrongful pet injury or death, and a growing advisory service to pet businesses like boarding facilities and veterinary clinics to keep pets safe by heading off problems before they crop up.

Cohen, 55, said he was a bored, unhappy lawyer before he landed his first dog case by chance back in 2008.

That’s when he attended a hearing for his stepchildren’s German shepherd, Jesse, who was facing multiple biting accusations before the Marblehead Board of Selectmen.

“What a zoo it was,” Cohen recalled. “People calling for Jesse to be killed.”

For advice, he said he called an acquaintance, the famous defense attorney F. Lee Bailey.

“He said, ‘There is nothing you can do about it,’” Cohen said.

“‘You are F. Lee Bailey. You always find something to do about it,’” Cohen said he told him. That lit a fire under Cohen, who figured out a remedy that spared Jesse’s life.

Cohen started taking similar calls and he eventually transitioned his law practice to Boston Dog Lawyers (bostondoglawyers.com) in 2016.
A high volume of calls revolves around pet injuries at boarding facilities, groomers and veterinary offices, he said.

“And people call us because when something went wrong, the person that they trusted turns their back on them,” he said.

Often, pet owners blame themselves for what happened, Cohen said. He spends a lot of time counseling pet owners that what happened was not their fault. They are just looking for accountability.

Oftentimes, such incidents do not lead to a lawsuit.

“And sometimes, not having a case and learning that from us can be just … it can give the pet owner some peace, some relief,” Cohen said.
Over the years, Cohen has handled an increasing number of calls for pet custody cases.

Probate court judges don’t want to put pets in the same category as children, Cohen said. He also does not want this, but pet owners often think of pets as family members.

Dave Finstein, 40, of Framingham said he turned to Boston Dog Lawyers for a custody case involving a large female Maine coon cat named Waffles he purchased with his former fiancée.

Finstein, who works in telecom and network engineering, and his former girlfriend were caring for Waffles and a dog, a rescue “Lab-pit mix” named Bailey, before they broke up in August 2022 and she moved out.

Finstein said his ex wanted to come up with a shared custody arrangement.

By mid-October, they agreed to share the pets for a couple of weeks.

On Nov. 2, 2025, Finstein said his ex brought Bailey back, but not Waffles. She wanted a custody agreement in writing for the cat. The next day, Finstein called Boston Dog Lawyers and spoke with Cohen.

“From there it was a very sort of long process but the reason for that was we were trying to give my ex all kinds of runway to negotiate and not end up in a courtroom,” Finstein said.

Finstein and Cohen eventually went to small claims court in September 2023, and a hearing took place in January 2024.

The result was a shared custody agreement, Finstein said. His ex hired an attorney and appealed.

After a hearing in July 2024, a magistrate ordered they share custody of the cat, but the exchange of Waffles never happened. Finstein and Cohen went back to court, finally reaching a settlement in August 2024.

Finstein got Waffles back for the remainder of 2024, not having seen her for 22 months. The former couple are now sharing custody of Waffles every three months.

Finstein said Cohen knew just how to handle what was a delicate case.

“There is no one else to call,” Finstein said. “He is that good.”

Two years ago, Cohen argued a pet custody case before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and won a landmark decision he said changed the law for Bay State pet owners.

The case involved Brett Lyman, who bought a black Pomeranian named Teddy Bear with his then girlfriend. The couple broke up, but agreed to share Teddy Bear. Eventually, the former girlfriend did not want to do this anymore, Cohen said.

Cohen won a preliminary injunction to share the dog, then the case was appealed to a single appeals court judge and they lost. An appeals court panel then reversed this.

“The court recognized the special bond that every day without your dog you suffer irreparable harm, that was a key part of it. … That really helped put us on the map,” Cohen said.

Boston Dog Lawyers was also part of a coalition championing Ollie’s Law, which calls for new regulations to make boarding facilities safer for pets. Cohen was on hand when Gov. Maura Healey signed Ollie’s Law in 2024.

Today, Cohen has 12 people working for the firm, mostly part-timers. There are six attorneys and several interns. Cohen said they have expansion plans, and have secured the name and logo for New York City Dog Lawyers.

One has to have a pet to work for the firm, he added.

Cohen and his wife, Maryellen, were pet parents to a golden retriever, Maisey, who died in May from cancer at age 12. This past holiday season was the first without her.

Cohen said his relationship with Maisey helped him when it came to representing pet owners as a lawyer. It allowed him to walk in their shoes.
Cohen is the younger son of attorney Martin Cohen and Anita Cohen, formerly of Revere and Swampscott, who now live in Boynton Beach, Florida.

He was raised on Franklin Avenue in Revere before the family moved to Swampscott.

Jeremy’s older brother, attorney Adam Cohen and his family now live in Wellesley, where he also has a law practice. Their former shul was located on the corner of Shirley and Nahant avenues.

“It helped so much to have that Revere knowledge because I can talk to people who are older than me and come to me, and I can talk (about) old Revere and Shirley Avenue because we had the bakery there,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s uncle and aunt, Paul and Dee Frieser, owned Liberman’s Bakery where he worked Saturdays as a kid from age 7 to 16. The experience taught him about how to run a small business.

From there, Cohen worked at Kelly’s Roast Beef for 15 years, through Swampscott High, Clark University and Suffolk University Law School.
“And working at Kelly’s, being the only Jewish guy there for the first few years, it was perfect. It taught me a work ethic,” he said.

Starting out as a young lawyer, he pursued coaching basketball at Arlington Catholic, Bishop Fenwick, Concord Academy and Malden Catholic. It was through coaching he met his wife.