Cobia (pronounced Co-bee-A) M. Powell, Esq., was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Powell began working with the firm in 2021 and has been licensed to practice law in New York State and in the United States Eastern District and Southern District Courts since 2022. Mr. Powell's work with the firm centers largely around Plaintiff side 1983 civil rights cases, police and/or government misconduct, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and municipal liability in Federal Courts, New York State Courts as well as agencies such as the Equal Empolyment Opportunity Commission and the New York State Division of Human Rights.
Mr. Powell is a class of 2021 graduate from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. He was awarded his Bachelor’s degree in Economics, with minors in Political Science and African American Studies from Syracuse University in 2018. After graduating college, Mr. Powell began volunteering at the Brownsville Legal Hand while attending law school. At Legal Hand, he helped to provide legal information and resources to the people in his community.
Mr. Powell’s passion for civil rights law began with his discovery of Section 1983 in college, which allows individuals to receive redress for injustices committed by the police and the government. In 2019, Mr. Powell first learned about the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington from doing research encouraged by the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), where he interned in his first year summer. Mr. Powell was placed at BNY Mellon through the vigorous New York City Bar Diversity Fellowship process. After enrollment in CUNY’s outstanding Equality Clinic, taught by Professor Rick Rossein, in the fall of 2020, Mr. Powell externed at the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington. During his semester long experience, he assisted on an assortment of assignments, ranging from reply motions to advocacy letters. His astute and diligent work in the office led to a post-externship invitation to return full time.
Mr. Powell’s ultimate goal is to use the law as a tool to end mass incarceration, which disproportionately affects Black people. As an associate at the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Mr. Powell has the confidence he will be equipped with the legal skills necessary to achieve that goal.
Outside the law, he enjoys watching and playing sports, going to the gym, and traveling. Mr. Powell also has an interest in several cryptocurrencies as well as engaging in conscious conversations that connect the past to the present, which in turn, informs the future.