James Cott

Adjunct Professor of Law

Biography

James Cott served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York from March 2010 until August 2024, and he was the Chief Magistrate Judge from 2022 to 2024. Immediately prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Cott served as the Chief of the Civil Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from 2003 to 2010.

A graduate of Harvard College and Northeastern University School of Law, Judge Cott also served as a law clerk to the late Vincent L. Broderick, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, and for 13 years was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, serving as Chief of the Office's Civil Rights Unit from 1991 to 1996 and as a Deputy Chief of the Civil Division from 1996 to 2000.

From 2001 to 2003, Judge Cott was the Associate Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Among his many teaching experiences, Judge Cott taught the Government Civil Litigation Clinic and Seminar at New York University School of Law and for many years taught first year Legal Writing and then Civil Rights Litigation Drafting, at Fordham.

Education

Harvard, BA; Northeastern Law School, JD​