Robert Kory, right, and a guest attend 'Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song' during the 2022 Tribeca Festival at Beacon Theatre in June, 2022, in New York City.Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
A judge in Los Angeles has concluded Leonard Cohen’s music lawyer and manager did nothing wrong in his handling of the beloved artist’s career, finances or estate, finding against the singer’s heirs in a protracted court battle around his lucrative estate and artistic legacy.
The court-commissioned report, which quotes both Joni Mitchell and Shakespeare, recommends the trial judge approve all of Robert Kory’s accounts, acts and transactions, and further recommends his court costs be paid by Mr. Cohen’s children, Adam and Lorca, and another trustee of the estate.
“Leonard said, ‘Everybody steals and everybody lies.’ Almost everybody. There’s exceptions to every rule,“ Mr. Kory told The Globe and Mail. ”I don’t mean to be arrogant, but I’m not built that way.”
The report and recommendations were prepared by retired Judge Glen Reiser after a reference proceeding, a type of mini-trial commonly used in complex probate or family law cases in California. A reference proceeding tasks an experienced outside judge with reviewing certain areas of evidence – in this case, tens of thousands of pages of documents as well as testimony – and then making a recommendation to the trial judge, who will ultimately rule on the case.
Mr. Kory said the allegations against him have caused “enormous public damage,” but he’s more focused on what the finding could mean for Mr. Cohen’s legacy. He said he hopes the report is a step toward reviving his plan to bring an extensive archive of Mr. Cohen’s journals and work back to Canada, and to further serious study of the artist’s work at Canadian universities.
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“I want the truth to come out, but what is really far more important is for a program of Leonard Cohen studies to start at McGill, U of T, UBC and University of Calgary,” Mr. Kory said.
“The whole battle is significant for Canada because if I’m ultimately successful, I’m highly confident that I can place the archive and complete the archive plan. And that’s not for my personal benefit. That’s purely my promise to Leonard.”
Mr. Kory began working with Mr. Cohen in 2004, after a previous manager stole the songwriter’s life savings. The period of Mr. Cohen’s work with Mr. Kory marked one of the most high-profile and lucrative times of his career, putting the elder musician, poet and artist back in the spotlight with acclaimed new albums, sold-out concerts and wildly popular international tours in the last decade of his life.
The judge’s report says Mr. Kory, “through Leonard’s insistence, was able to resurrect Leonard’s career, book Leonard into packed arenas across the world, and earn Leonard (and his estate) many tens of millions of dollars in revenues and future royalty streams.”
Mr. Cohen died on Nov. 7, 2016. The last album he made, You Want It Darker, was produced by his son, Adam, who also plays guitar on the record. It was released 17 days before Mr. Cohen’s death.
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Mr. Kory continued to work for the estate, but he and Mr. Cohen’s children had a falling out in 2021, when, on the eve of a $60-million cash sale of Mr. Cohen’s music publishing catalogue, Adam Cohen began disputing Mr. Kory’s commission and management agreement.
Mr. Cohen’s children later alleged Mr. Kory exploited the musician’s losses to his previous manager, and then entrenched himself in Mr. Cohen’s life, misusing both his power and Mr. Cohen’s money.
But the report and recommendation prepared by Justice Reiser found no financial mismanagement, and said it was actually Mr. Cohen who tried for years to convince Mr. Kory to take control of his estate and career, “because, as it turned out, Robert was the only person in Leonard’s life with the competence, dedication and work ethic to faithfully perform those functions.”
The judge calls Adam Cohen’s allegation about a clerical error and change to a document done by another lawyer ”a red herring of flaming scarlet" as it pertains to the work of Mr. Kory.
Lawyer Adam Pines, who represents Mr. Kory, told The Globe the report provides “a complete vindication of Robert’s actions and positions.”
Mr. Pines said the key aspects of the report are not only that his client acted honestly and appropriately, but that “the reason why the Cohen estate stalled or is dead in the water is that Adam stopped all the projects that Robert had in motion.”
The report quotes Mr. Kory’s testimony that Mr. Cohen once told him: “Look, my son is Hamlet. He’s a prince haunted by his father’s ghost who poisons everyone he touches.”
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Mr. Kory also testified that Mr. Cohen “literally used the word ‘patricide’,” “in the sense of Adam wanted to extinguish Leonard’s legacy in order to create space to get out from under the shadow.”
Mr. Cohen’s heirs now have an opportunity to respond to the report, and it will then go to the trial judge overseeing the litigation.
Mr. Pines said the value of the Cohen estate and materials at the time Mr. Kory was working on them was about US$69-million. The archive is valued at about US$48-million.
“Robert worked with Leonard closely for those 12 years and put him back in the spotlight, and made him and his kids a fortune,” Mr. Pines said. “At the end of his life, Leonard was very clear that he trusted Robert with his legacy, and wanted Robert to be the one to make decisions about it and to try to bring it to where it could be.”
He noted a quote in the report, in which Mr. Cohen tells Mr. Kory he hopes to be remembered “on the lowest rung of the pantheon of poets.”
“Robert felt that was an understatement, and that Leonard really should be recognized as among the great poets of our time,” Mr. Pines said, “and did everything he could to make that reality.”
Lawyers for Adam and Lorca Cohen did not respond to requests for comment.