5, 10, 15 AND 25 YEARS AFTER LAW SCHOOL

DESCRIBE YOUR WORK:

I represent innovative and creative clients, helping them navigate the intellectual property system to protect their technology, ideas and businesses. At McKool Smith, everyone is a trial advocate, so most of my work is intellectual property litigation of some stripe, with a heavy dose of non-litigation strategy and advising.

WHAT ACTIVITIES DO YOU ENJOY OUTSIDE OF WORK? My wife, Elise, and I have four sons and one daughter, and spending time with them is usually my focus, but I like trying to learn some new skill with them. During the pandemic we did a lot of gardening, planting roses and laying new sod in our front yard. Watching the garden grow and enjoying the springtime was wonderful. Recently, I’ve spent my Sundays on woodworking or handyman projects around the house.

ARE YOU WHERE YOU EXPECTED TO BE AT THIS STAGE OF YOUR CAREER AND LIFE? I assumed I’d be practicing law, but the path my career has taken has been totally unexpected. After clerking, I went to Williams & Connolly, but left when a friend asked me to join a smaller appellate boutique where he worked. Through serendipity, I later ended up in the West Wing of the White House and then the Patent and Trademark Office. I had no plans to do either of those jobs, but they were both fascinating opportunities. Both were also unusual but excellent preparation for the litigation and advising I do now.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR LIFE 10 YEARS AFTER LAW SCHOOL? Professionally, I love learning new things, in patent cases especially. I’ve gotten to learn about how semiconductor devices are made, how proteins fold (I didn’t know they did!) and how cellular networks function. Diving into the technical details is always great fun. Personally, being a husband and father is the most important thing. I love that Elise and I share the task of helping our children grow in virtue and that we have our immediate family nearby and a community in our church and children’s school to help us do that.

JOHN COOPER ’08

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SAFE & JUST MICHIGAN LANSING, MICHIGAN

DESCRIBE YOUR WORK: We have a staff of 11 (including myself), and the criminal justice reform advocacy work we do involves a broad range of tasks—e.g. research, policy development, organizing, storytelling, media and legislative advocacy—and issues from bail reform, to sentencing and parole reform, to removing barriers to success for people with criminal records. We have helped pass many important reforms since I joined SJM as policy director in April 2017, and we have a full agenda in the 2023-24 legislative session.

WHAT ACTIVITIES DO YOU ENJOY OUTSIDE OF WORK? My wife and I have two small children (3-year-old son and a 6-monthold daughter), and a lot of family in town (both grandparents live within walking distance), so we have limited time for outside activities. But when I have the time, I enjoy food and wine, cards and board games, sports and fantasy sports, podcasts and spending time outdoors.

ARE YOU WHERE YOU EXPECTED TO BE AT THIS STAGE OF YOUR CAREER AND LIFE? I didn’t come to law school with any specific expectations. I was the first person in my family to go to law school, and I was 22 and fresh out of undergrad when I started. So I didn’t know enough to even have expectations beyond getting a job or a clerkship after graduation and hoping things worked out from there. Thankfully, they did! I was fortunate to clerk for a judge I admire and spent about seven mostly good years at a firm before I decided to move back to Michigan to pursue policy work. Expectations aside, I could not have predicted any of this, but I am grateful for how things have worked out.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR LIFE 15 YEARS AFTER LAW SCHOOL? I feel like I am in the right place, finally settled and doing meaningful work. I also have a good work-life balance, control over my schedule and a job that is a better fit for me than practicing law. That’s not to say I don’t value my time practicing law—that experience helped bring me to where I am today. But I am glad I left when I did and came home.