Christopher C. Cooke

Christopher Cooke is an attorney with over thirty years’ experience, including over sixteen years at his own law firm. Mr. Cooke’s practice focuses on representing individuals and businesses in federal regulatory investigations and in parallel civil and criminal proceedings, including investigations by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Justice, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He has also represented both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil litigation in federal and state courts at the trial court level and on appeal, including representing defendants in shareholder class actions, shareholder derivative litigation, and actions by the FDIC as a receiver against former bank officers. He has also represented individuals and businesses in public company internal investigations, FINRA investigations, and FINRA arbitrations. He has particular experience in helping clients navigate the difficult world of parallel civil and criminal investigations arising from potential violations of the federal securities laws.

Before starting his law firm, Mr. Cooke worked for the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in San Francisco, where he was a Branch Chief. While at the SEC, Mr. Cooke conducted investigations of, and filed civil and administrative actions against, companies and individuals violating the federal securities laws. Among the SEC cases he has filed, Mr. Cooke brought civil enforcement actions against public companies and their executive officers for fraudulently reporting their financial results to the investing public, against brokerage firms and investment advisers for defrauding their clients, and against investment bankers and others for fraudulently raising money from investors, in municipal securities offerings involving so-called “dirt bonds.”

Mr. Cooke was also an attorney at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he represented a wide variety of clients in federal and state courts in California, concentrating on complex litigation matters, including federal and state securities class actions, shareholder derivative actions, and ERISA class actions.

Mr. Cooke began his legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. Eugene F. Lynch of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Mr. Cooke received his law degree from UCLA School of Law in 1989, where he as Order of the Coif and co-Managing Editor of the Pacific Basin Law Journal, and earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, College of Arts & Sciences (A.B. in History) in 1985.

PUBLISHED CASES

• Brown v. Woodland Joint Unified School District, 27 F.3d 1373 (9th Cir. 1994);
• Hecker v. Micron Technology, Inc., et al., 37 F. Supp. 2d 1193 (D. Id. 1997);
• SEC v. Fitzgerald, et al., 135 F. Supp. 2d 992 (N.D. Cal. 2001);
• Johnson v. Myers et al., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112897 (N.D. Cal. 2012) (and related decisions)

CLASSES/SEMINARS

ABA, Panelist & Co-Presenter, 2004 National Legal Malpractice Conference, Lawyer Liability in the Current Regulatory Environment

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Conference of California Bar Associations, Delegate, 2015 to present, Member of CCBA Board of Directors, 2014-2015, 2017 to present
San Mateo County Bar Association, Chair of  ADR Section, 2020-