Cohen Milstein

Agnieszka Fryszman, a Partner at Cohen Milstein, joined the Firm in 1998.  She heads Cohen Milstein’s International Human Rights and Pro Bono practice.

Ms. Fryszman regularly litigates complex cases against corporate giants.  She was a member of the legal team that successfully represented survivors of Nazi-era forced and slave labor against the German and Austrian companies that allegedly profited from their labor.  These cases were resolved by international negotiations that resulted in multi-billion dollar settlements.  She also represented, pro bono, Holocaust survivors suing Swiss banks that collaborated with the Nazi regime during World War II.  This litigation led academics to revise their assessment of Switzerland’s relationship with Nazi Germany and exposed the extent of business participation in the Holocaust.

Ms. Fryszman and colleague Matthew Handley earned the National Law Journal’s 2011 Pro Bono Award for their efforts on behalf of Nepali laborers injured or killed at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They obtained several judgments and significant settlements on behalf of the families.  She currently represents victims of a human trafficking ring that lured men from Nepal with the promise of employment at luxury hotels, but instead took them against their will to work at a U.S. military facility in Iraq.  Ms. Fryszman investigated and initiated suit against military contractors KBR and Daoud & Partners, filing one of the first complaints under the recently passed Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  Her work on behalf of the former “comfort women,” women and girls trafficked into sexual slavery by the government of Japan during World War II, was recognized with the “Fierce Sister” award from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.  She also represents Indonesian villagers in a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil over abuses allegedly committed by the defendant’s security force.

Ms. Fryszman was recognized in 2013 as a Washington, D.C. “Super Lawyer” and was recognized in 2011 as one of Washington D.C.’s “Leading Star” Plaintiffs’ Litigators by Benchmark Litigation. For two years in a row, Ms. Fryszman was selected as one of the 500 “Leading Lawyers in America” by Lawdragon.  She was also a finalist for the Public Justice Foundation 2010 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for her work on Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Shell.  Ms. Fryszman joined the legal team in that long-running case to prepare it for trial, resulting in a multi-million dollar settlement on the morning of jury selection.  

Ms. Fryszman represented, pro bono, a number of victims of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon and obtained one of the highest awards for an injured survivor from the Victim’s Compensation Fund.  Ms. Fryszman also represented, pro bono, two individuals indefinitely detained without charge by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, work that was recognized with the Frederick Douglass Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

In the Antitrust practice group, Ms. Fryszman represents small businesses that have been victims of alleged price-fixing.

Before joining Cohen Milstein, Ms. Fryszman was counsel to the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.  She also served as counsel to Representative Henry Waxman, Ranking Member on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

Ms. Fryszman graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in International Relations.  She graduated (magna cum laude and Order of the Coif) from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar.

Ms. Fryszman is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and New Jersey.

Awards and Recognitions:

• National Law Journal Pro Bono Award (2011)
• “Leading Star” Plaintiff Litigator by Benchmark Litigation (2011)
• One of the 500 “Leading Lawyers in America” by Lawdragon (2011 & 2010)
• Finalist, Public Justice Foundation Trial Lawyer of the Year (2010)
• Frederick Douglass Award, Southern Center for Human Rights (2007)
• Beacon of Justice Award, National Legal Aid and Defender Association (2007)
• Fierce Sister Award, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (2006)