Nicholas J. Jacques is an associate in Cohen Milstein’s Human Rights practice, where he represents victims of torture, human trafficking, forced labor, and other violations of international law in litigation against multinational corporations, foreign governments, and other powerful wrongdoers.
Nick has been engaged in several high-profile, cross-border human rights disputes, including representing the family of “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina in litigation against high-ranking Rwandan officials over Rusesabagina’s wrongful detention. In 2023, American Lawyer recognized Nick and the Cohen Milstein team as Litigator of the Week – Runners-Up for the successful resolution of this matter. Nick was also a key team member who helped negotiate an eve-of-trial settlement on behalf of 11 Indonesian citizens with ExxonMobil. The plaintiffs claimed that their family members were abused and murdered by soldiers contracted to guard Exxon’s operations in Aceh, Indonesia. Cohen Milstein and co-counsel were awarded the 2024 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for the successful resolution of this case.
Before joining Cohen Milstein as an associate, Nick was a Law Fellow at the firm where he worked across practices and was involved in litigating individual and class action cases at the district and appellate levels.
Immediately before his Fellowship, Nick was a law clerk to the Honorable Carolyn Dineen King for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, as well as a law clerk to the Honorable Nancy Moritz for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
While attending Cornell Law School, Nick received numerous academic awards, including The Freeman Award for Civil-Human Rights and the Arthur S. Chatman Labor Law Prize. He was an articles editor at Cornell Law Review, executive bench editor for the Moot Court Board, and chapter president of the National Lawyers Guild.