Hi, Cooper! Give us a little background on yourself. Where are you from, where did you go for undergrad, and how did you end up coming to law school?
I’m from South Pittsburg, Tennessee, which is a small town on the Alabama state line.[1] I first started thinking about law school when I was in high school. I had an interesting relationship with a juvenile court judge—he was a football ref for the region, and I’m a chatty guy, so we started cutting up. Later, he ended up interviewing me for a scholarship. I didn’t get the scholarship, but after that interview, he said, “I think you should consider going to law school at some point.” So, it’s always kind of been sitting in the back of my mind.
Then, I went to Sewanee—The University of the South—for undergrad and majored in politics. After leaving Sewanee, I hopped on the campaign trail and did some interesting campaign work for a few years, and I ended up running a campaign in Tennessee, which was really satisfying. But I knew that law school was the end game, so that’s how I ended up here.
Tell us more about your campaign work and what you enjoyed the most from it.
My campaign experience was unique because I got to do something cool called political advance. I was working for a firm out in D.C. that was hired by Democratic candidates across the country to come out and set up big events, essentially. I got to travel the country and work with high-profile candidates, and I got to be the busy twenty-two-year-old in the airport, somehow getting first class while wearing sweatpants. But I found that I really enjoyed plugging in to each individual community as much as I enjoyed that big exposure to the high-profile politicians. So, I left that to knock on doors in Northern Virginia for the 2020 elections, which was exactly where I wanted to be.
After that, I had the option of going back to the political advance world or just trying something new, and I sent a text to a woman that I had interned for after graduating, back in Tennessee, and asked if she wanted me to come volunteer. Fortunately for me, her campaign staff wasn’t performing as she had hoped at that moment, and she asked me to come run the campaign.
How much of that experience has transferred to law school?
Getting that job—getting trusted with something that important to a candidate—gave me confidence where I was like, “Wait a second, I can really continue to climb in whatever direction I choose.” Learning how to communicate with people and sort of punch above my weight, and just being confident in my own abilities, are the two things that I think ended up being the most relevant to law school.
What has been your favorite experience so far in law school?
Easily softball. I think the reason that I enjoy that is part of something bigger at UVA, just the culture. This is the right place to go to law school, I think.
Speaking of softball, you’re a co-captain for Co-Rec Blue, one of UVA’s teams in the annual UVA Law Softball Invitational. What was it like last year, playing for the team as a 1L?
Oh, it was super exciting! I got to do it with my good friend, Andrew Becker ’24, who’s also my co-captain this year. We were not the victors, of course—congratulations again to Co-Rec Gold; I’m sure someone from that team is talking about the run differentials as we speak—but it was fun just to see students from other law schools appreciate what we’re doing here and enjoy it as much as I feel like we enjoy it.
Final question for this section (and the most important): Tell us about your cat.
My cat, Joe, is twelve years old or so—but not if you check the vet records, because I’ve told them all that he’s between eight and ten, since apparently prices go up around eleven or twelve. He’s a tuxedo cat that I got from a funny rescue place in Maryland; I couldn’t tell you what they were doing up there. He is a monster, he is my best friend, and he wakes me up at four o’clock every morning. If I look tired, it’s because I am—it’s because my cat keeps me up all night. But, hey, I love having a furball to go home to every day.
Okay, time for the Lightning Round.
Favorite punctuation?
I love an em-dash. I’m not totally convinced that anyone really knows exactly when to use it.
Favorite word?
I think the German word for butterfly, “schmetterling,” is funny.
Favorite band?
Changes on a daily basis, but this is an opportunity to plug—I have great taste in music, I swear—Mo Lowda & the Humble.
Favorite animal?
A stray, friendly one. I can’t choose between cats and dogs because I grew up with both, but my favorite animals in my life are the ones that show up for a couple months and hang out, and then I never see them again.
City you want to visit but not live in?
Chicago. I’m a Cubs fan, but it’s just too cold in the winter.
What instruments do you play?
I can play somewhere between four and six songs on the banjo. They’re all in this genre called “old-timey” music.
What’s your hottest take?
Law school is a good time.
And finally, any shoutouts you want to make?
Shoutout to Section B, Class of 2024. They’re a great group of people who are really supportive of one another and who really avoided stress culture. I think most of my answers about UVA generally, like that law school is a good time, are just from my experience with my section. So, shoutout Section B, 2024.
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Interviewed by Sarah Walsh '23 and Jack Brown '23
uer6rj@virginia.edu
[1] A fun fact for readers that we discovered while Googling South Pittsburg to make sure that we were spelling it correctly: South Pittsburg is home to the National Cornbread Festival.