Mark Cooney is an Associate Professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he teaches Research & Writing. Before joining Cooley’s faculty, Professor Cooney spent ten years in private practice with civil-litigation firms, most recently Collins, Einhorn, Farrell & Ulanoff, P.C., in Southfield, Michigan.
His substantive areas of practice included legal-malpractice defense, medical-malpractice defense, insurance coverage, and general tort defense. He also briefed a variety of ethical and constitutional issues in judicial-discipline cases.
Professor Cooney began his career handling all aspects of civil litigation, including trials, but he eventually turned his focus to appellate work. He has successfully briefed and argued appeals in the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
While in practice, he received the Cooley Law Review's Distinguished Brief Award, which recognizes the three most scholarly briefs submitted to the Michigan Supreme Court in a given term, as determined by a panel of state and federal judges and Cooley faculty members.
Professor Cooney has chaired the State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, has chaired the Section's Federal Practice Committee, and has served on the Section's council. He was recently appointed to the State Bar’s Committee on Standard Criminal Jury Instructions to serve as a writing consultant. He also serves on the founding board of the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society’s Advocate’s Guild.
Professor Cooney has been a speaker or a moderator at a number of programs on legal writing and appellate practice, including events sponsored by the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System, the Michigan Appellate Bench-Bar Foundation, Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, and the State Bar’s Appellate Practice Section. He has also been a panelist at the State Bar of Michigan’s Annual Bar Leadership Forum.
Professor Cooney has authored many articles on legal writing, including articles in national publications like Student Lawyer, TRIAL, and The Scrivener. He is also a frequent contributor to the Michigan Bar Journal’s Plain Language column. Professor Cooney has also published in the areas of legal malpractice, legal ethics, and insurance coverage.
Before joining Cooley’s full-time faculty, Professor Cooney taught Advanced Research and Writing at Cooley as an adjunct professor.
As a law student, Professor Cooney graduated first in his class, was the Law Review’s Comments Editor, and received American Jurisprudence or Certificate of Merit “book” awards in 13 courses.
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