John D. Cooke

John D. Cooke is a trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor who focuses on white-collar criminal matters, internal and government investigations, and business disputes. A member of the firm’s White-Collar Criminal Defense, Corporate Investigations and Regulatory Compliance and Trial Practice Groups, John represents clients in high-stakes criminal and regulatory investigations and complex civil litigation. He is a seasoned litigator with two decades of experience as a criminal and civil trial lawyer, having tried more than a dozen cases to verdict and briefed and argued numerous appeals.

Before joining Duane Morris, John served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 14 years and represented the United States in both criminal and civil investigations and cases. He was a Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and a Regional Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), the largest anti-crime task force in the nation and the cornerstone of the Justice Department’s counter-transnational organized crime strategy. John collaborated with numerous state and federal agencies in his government work, achieved substantial settlements in civil investigations under the False Claims Act, and led and supervised significant prosecutions and trials dealing with a variety of federal offenses including fraud, cybercrime, public corruption, civil-rights violations, money laundering, racketeering, and murder.

John’s courtroom acumen and readiness to take a case to trial underpin his strategic and vigorous client advocacy aimed at achieving favorable resolutions before trial. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law (J.D., 2004) and Boston University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1999).

Admitted in California. Not admitted in Illinois.