University of Wisconsin Law School clinical professor and alum Jim Cooley ‘90 was featured in the popular ‘Know Your Madisonian’ spot in the Wisconsin State Journal on Sunday, January 28, 2007.
Cooley, a supervising attorney with the Law School’s Legal Defense Program, told his interviewer that his job is important because it "allows second- and third-year law students the opportunity to represent our clients in court, under the close supervision of LDP's supervising attorneys. Our students invariably say that the real-world experience this clinic affords is invaluable."
Following is the interview text in full. It is on line at the State Journal's Web site:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/local/index.php?ntid=116686 .
Know your Madisonian: Jim Cooley
ED TRELEVEN
608-252-6134
January 29, 2007
Age: 57.
Home: Town of Montrose.
Family: Wife, Laura Dulski. Also, three dogs, two cats and two horses.
Job: Clinical associate professor, UW-Madison Law School's Legal Defense Program, since 1990. LDP contracts with the state Public Defender, doing 400 to 500 cases per year representing indigent citizens accused of crimes, mostly misdemeanors, as well as four or five Federal Defender cases, mostly serious crimes.
My job is important because: It allows second- and third-year law students the opportunity to represent our clients in court, under the close supervision of LDP's supervising attorneys. Our students invariably say that the real-world experience this clinic affords is invaluable. To me, it's especially rewarding to watch most students' attitudes change during their tenure here. Seeing firsthand the inequities often involved when poor people are pitted against the power of the state tends to develop long-lasting commitments for change.
Top issue in my field: The racism that pervades the criminal justice system.
How I ended up in my job: I entered law school hoping to become a labor lawyer, since I'd been involved in union organizing, but was bitten hard by the criminal defense bug as a student in the Legal Defense Program.
Person I most admire: Martin Luther King Jr.
The word of phrase I never want to hear again: "Sustained," after the district attorney makes an objection, or "overruled," when I make an objection.
Favorite view of Madison: Downtown from the middle of Lake Monona, while skating at night.
What I like most about Madison: I like all the restaurants here and the chances to see live music.
Hobbies: Reading, bird watching and I hope to get back into cycling, once my foot heals.
Top choice of dinner companion, dead or alive: Malcolm X.
Right now I'm reading: "Memoirs of Hadrian," by Marguerite Yourcenar and Grace Frick, and "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies," by Jared Diamond.
First job: Delivering the (now defunct) Chicago Daily News as a kid in Benton Harbor, Mich.
Weirdest job: I worked as a Dairy Herd Improvement Association field man. It involved getting up at 3 a.m. and going out to farms and getting milk samples from farmers. It was right after I moved to Wisconsin, in 1971.
Ideal vacation: A five-year trip around the world.
********************************
Submitted by on February 5, 2007
This article appears in the categories: Articles
