Lawyer in the news

Who? John Cohen, 56-year-old entertainment partner at 17-partner central London firm Clintons.

Why is he in the news? Represents Pete Townshend, the lead guitarist with The Who, who was arrested last week under the Protection of Children Act 1978 for allegations relating to child pornography on the Internet.

Mr Townshend, who has been released on bail, claims that he was looking at the sites for research for a forthcoming book.

Background: LLB at University College London 1964-67, followed by Law Society finals at the College of Law at Lancaster Gate in 1968.

He qualified with Clintons in 1970 and has been there ever since, becoming partner in 1972.

Route to the case: 'Pete Townshend is a long-standing client of the firm.'

Thoughts on the case: 'The matter is now entirely in the police's hands.

My client has assisted the police in their enquiries, and they are now examining a large amount of material which they have taken from his house.

The next stage will be possible further questioning by the police, which may be in two or three months.

It's a strange situation, because Mr Townshend admits having looked at the sites and having paid for one, but not because he is a paedophile: it was purely for research purposes and because he wants to know more about the subject.'

Dealing with the media: 'In this line of work I've had a great deal of experience with high-profile cases and clients such as pop groups, actors and composers.

You have to treat each case differently.

With this we decided to be informal and relatively friendly with journalists, which I think has paid off.

Although one tends to focus on the unfavourable coverage, in general I think the press has been pretty sympathetic.'

Victoria MacCallum