News
Few firms in Washington, D.C. can lay claim to being as influential on a national stage as Cooper & Kirk.
Chuck Cooper: The Principled Advocate
- “If you’re crafting a strategy for litigation to challenge a federal statute, or regulation that’s unconstitutional, to win in the trial court and then to win in the Supreme Court, there’s nobody better on planet Earth than Chuck,” – Senator Ted Cruz
- “Over the last three and a half decades, Cooper has become the doyen of the conservative bar and one of the most well-regarded litigators in Washington, while his firm, Cooper & Kirk, has become an institution inside the Beltway and has fostered some of the best legal minds in the country, as well as some of the most storied.”
- “It is difficult to overstate how well-regarded Cooper is in the legal community, and how much of an impact he has had over the course of the last 25 years.”
A Leading Litigation Boutique Turns 25
- Cooper & Kirk celebrates a quarter-century of high-profile cases and high-powered alumni.
How Cooper & Kirk Became One of the Most Influential Firms in Washington
- “In a town filled to the brim with lawyers, few firms in Washington, D.C., can lay claim to being as influential on a national stage as Cooper & Kirk.”
- “Cooper’s boutique litigation firm—which celebrated its 25th anniversary in October—has been a player in many of the major events in American history over the past quarter-century.”
- “Cooper & Kirk may have a track record and client base that an Am Law 100 firm would covet, but its head count is surprisingly small. With 19 lawyers, it is currently the biggest it has ever been—and it actually has more Supreme Court appearances under its belt than it does litigators.”
- “this small but influential firm is a prized destination for major talent in the legal community”
- “Name an issue on the national stage, and Cooper & Kirk has likely helped make, or clarify, the law regarding that issue.”
Memorandum re Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard & Employment Affirmative Action Programs
In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. ___ (2023), the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs in college admissions that give preferences to students based on their race. Under the Court’s holding in Students for Fair Admissions, racial affirmative action programs in the employment context are also now illegal.
Operation Choke Point 2.0: The Federal Bank Regulators Come For Crypto
Recent stories in the financial press have uncovered a coordinated campaign by prudential bank regulators to drive crypto businesses out of the financial system. Bank regulators have published informal guidance documents that single out cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency customers as a risk to the banking system. Businesses in the cryptocurrency marketplace are losing their bank accounts, or their access to the ACH network, suddenly, and with no explanation from their bankers. The owners and employees of cryptocurrency firms are even having their personal accounts closed without explanation. And over the past two weeks, federal regulators have shut down a solvent bank that was known to be serving the crypto industry and, although it is required to resolve banks through the “least cost resolution” to the Deposit Insurance Fund, the FDIC chose to shutter rather than sell the part of the bank that serves digital asset customers, costing the Fund billions of dollars.
House GOP Sues Pelosi Over Proxy Voting During Pandemic
- “The plaintiffs are represented by Cooper & Kirk PLLC. Their complaint was signed by name partner Charles J. Cooper, a titan of Washington’s conservative legal establishment.”
California’s Same-Sex Marriage Foes Press to Keep Trial Video Under Wraps
- “Cooper, a widely known Washington-based lawyer, has represented Jeff Sessions, the Trump administration’s first U.S. attorney general, and John Bolton, the former Trump national security adviser whose memoir on his service in the White House has caused a First Amendment flap in Washington. ”
Chuck Cooper to Take Over as Counsel to Epstein Accuser in Defamation Lawsuit Against Alan Dershowitz
- “Cooper, a conservative legal luminary, is stepping in to serve as Virginia Guiffre’s lawyer after the Boies Schiller Flexner firm was disqualified from the case.”
Big Law’s Supreme Court Star Power Competes for Smaller Pie
- “Other boutiques that have robust Supreme Court practices in Cooper & Kirk and Gupta Wessler.”
Former State Ag Adam Laxalt Joins Conservative Law Firm
- “Cooper and Kirk is known as a heavyweight conservative legal player and has challenged the federal government in court numerous times. One of its partners, Charles Cooper, was assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel under the Reagan administration… It also has connections to multiple power players in Washington, including Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions Retains Private Lawyer
- “Attorney Charles “Chuck” Cooper, a longtime advocate for conservative causes, has been providing counsel to the attorney general, most recently in preparation for his appearance last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible collusion between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.”
Rachel Brand Confirmed as 3rd at Justice Department
- “Brand has also worked in the private sector, prominently as an attorney at the conservative gold-standard law firm currently named Cooper & Kirk, led by iconic Reagan administration lawyer Charles Cooper, the firm at which GOP darlings Sen. Ted Cruz and solicitor general nominee Noel Francisco also earned their spurs. She also formerly worked as top attorney for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”
The Case for Chuck Cooper as Solicitor General
- “In my recent story about the process of selecting a solicitor general, I offered ample praise for Chuck Cooper, one of the two finalists. I noted his “amazing résumé” (including a Supreme Court clerkship, which longtime readers know I’m obsessed with); his decades-long, “distinguished career in government and private practice”; and his founding of Cooper & Kirk, “which has risen to prominence as one of the nation’s leading litigation boutiques.”