Practice Areas

Administrative Law
Antitrust
Appellate
Class Action
Commercial Litigation
Constitution — First Amendment
Constitution — Second Amendment
Constitution — Fifth Amendment
Constitution — Civil Rights
Constitution — Commerce Clause
Constitution — Separation of Powers
Constitution — Voting Rights
Election Law
Employment Litigation
Government Contracts
Healthcare Litigation
Intellectual Property
Qui Tam
Real Estate Litigation
State Representation
Telecommunication Litigation
Trial Practice
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals
Constitution — Civil Rights

Constitution — Civil Rights

Cooper & Kirk has a proud record of standing up for America’s most cherished civil rights, fighting discrimination on the basis of race, and at the same time robustly defending the authority of state and local officials against federal overreach. We have particular expertise in institutional reform litigation involving local school districts, as well as significant experience battling the use of racial preferences in government hiring, education, and decision-making. Those who have retained Cooper & Kirk to handle sensitive and critically important matters involving fundamental rights know they can count on us to deploy our unique combination of elite litigation skills, unquestioned integrity, and fervent commitment to constitutional principle as we zealously defend our clients’ interests. No attorneys will fight more fiercely on behalf of their clients than the lawyers at Cooper and Kirk, and no attorneys are more deeply devoted to securing and protecting America’s fundamental constitutional rights.

Issue
Michigan's Constitutional Ban on Affirmative Action
Level of Court
US District Court - Eastern District of Michigan

Overview We represented a Michigan law student who successfully intervened to defend against an equal protection challenge to Michigan’s constitutional ban on using racial preferences in public employment, education, and contracting. When the federal district court denied intervention, we secured a reversal through an interlocutory appeal to the Sixth Circuit. The Supreme Court later agreed with our client’s position and rejected the constitutional challenges brought by the plaintiffs.

Issue
Constitutionality of Proposition 209
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - Ninth Circuit

Overview We represented the intervenor Californians Against Discrimination and Preferences, Inc., in a case involving the constitutionality of Proposition 209 which prohibited the State of California from utilizing racial and gender preferences in education, employment, and contracting. The Ninth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction entered by the district court and held that Proposition 209 was constitutional.

Issue
Delaware School Desegration
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - Third Circuit

Overview On behalf of the Delaware House of Representatives Committee on Desegregation, we successfully urged the district court to declare the four school districts in the Wilmington, Delaware metropolitan area unitary, dissolve a busing order that had been in place since 1978, and finally dismiss a school desegregation case originally brought in 1956. On appeal, we successfully argued that the trial court’s decision should be affirmed in its entirety.

Issue
Ending Federal Court Supervision of East Baton Rouge Schools
Level of Court
US District Court - Middle District of Louisiana

Overview When we were retained by the East Baton Rouge School District in 2001, the school district had been subject to more than four decades of federal court supervision. We filed and vigorously pressed a motion for unitary status. After extensive discovery, the case settled on terms that granted the school district unitary status and ended federal court supervision.

Issue
Oklahoma City School Desegregation
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - Tenth Circuit

Overview We represented the Oklahoma City Board of Education in proceedings following remand from the United States Supreme Court in this school desegregation case that originally was filed over forty years ago. The district court granted our motion for summary judgment, declared the school district unitary, terminated court supervision over the Oklahoma City public schools, and dismissed the case. On appeal, the Tenth Circuit accepted our argument that the Oklahoma City schools had satisfied the standard established by the Supreme Court and affirmed the trial court’s decision to end the case.

Issue
Challenge to NY Law Publishing Handgun Owner Information
Level of Court
US District Court - Southern District of New York

Overview We represented residents of Putnam County, New York in a Second Amendment challenge to a state law that makes the name and address of handgun permit holders publicly available. We obtained a preliminary injunction. The State of New York agreed that plaintiffs subject to harassment would not be disclosed.

Issue
White Collar Crime
Level of Court
US District Court - District of Columbia

Overview Our client had previously been convicted of white-collar offenses, and we argued that he fell into a statutory exemption from federal laws that forbid felons from possessing firearms. The District Court agreed with our argument, and the federal government chose not to appeal.

Issue
Virginia Commonwealth University - Gender Discrimination
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - Fourth Circuit

Overview On appeal before the en banc Fourth Circuit, we represented five male professors who charged Virginia Commonwealth University with engaging in impermissible gender discrimination in its salary structure. The court of appeals reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant university.

Issue
Marion County, Florida School District - Desegregation
Level of Court
US District Court - Middle District of Florida

Overview We represented the Marion County, Florida, School District in connection with its long running school desegregation case. We were retained to seek unitary status (i.e., an order dismissing the case), and we successfully defended the School District in a hearing regarding whether it violated its consent decree with the United States.

Issue
Rockford Illinois School Desegregation
Level of Court
US Court of Appeals - Seventh Circuit

Overview We represented the Rockford, Illinois Board of Education in this school desegregation case. We had asked the district court to declare the school district unitary, vacate the desegregation decree, and dismiss the case. The trial court held that the school district was not unitary, and ruled that the busing order must remain in place for several additional years. The court of appeals reversed and remanded with instructions that the district court grant all of the relief sought by our client.