In 2003, James Cooper was profiled in Legal Times’ sister publication, The American Lawyer, as one of the best federal prosecutors in the country. The article said the group of 11 prosecutors comprised “a shopping list for recruiting partners.” Well, Arnold & Porter went shopping, and Cooper will be leaving the local U.S. Attorney’s Office in May to become a partner and litigator focusing on white collar and government investigations. “If you spend five minutes with James, he’s an extremely impressive guy,” says Arnold & Porter chair Thomas Milch.
After prosecuting violent crimes in the mid-1990s, Cooper moved to Justice in 1997 as a trial attorney in white-collar cases. In 2002, he returned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he was promoted to deputy chief of the Criminal Division and also served as acting chief of the National Security Section. “Arnold & Porter is a wonderful Washington institution,” Cooper says. “It is a place where I found I fit and click comfortably and culturally.”
However, Cooper’s hire could create some confusion, since the firm already has a James Cooper, a partner and litigator in antitrust, securities enforcement and other areas.
Back at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Bill Blier, special counsel for national security, will become deputy chief of the Criminal Division after Cooper’s departure. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Ingersoll will fill Blier’s former slot, while Amy Jeffress, deputy chief of the Organized Crime & Narcotics Trafficking Section, will head the National Security Section.
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