Lawyer Bio : Jim D. Cooley

Jim D. Cooley

Charlotte

Chambers 2010

Jim is a partner in the Charlotte office and is Practice Group Leader of the Firm's 80-lawyer Business Litigation Group. Resolving complex business disputes has been the focus of Jim's practice since joining Womble Carlyle in 1985. In addition to his thirty-three years of litigation experience, Jim brings a keen understanding of alternate dispute resolution techniques to his clients' problems. Through his long service with the North Carolina Bar Association's Committee (now section) which designed and implemented North Carolina's court- annexed dispute resolution program and his work with the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution studying dispute resolution in the construction industry, Jim brings to bear a complete arsenal of techniques and skills for evaluating and solving business disputes in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

In recent years his practice has encompassed class actions and multidistrict litigation of antitrust, unfair competition and securities fraud claims, numerous corporate and partnership control disputes representing both majority and minority interests, commercial contract disputes for a wide variety of business clients in the United States and abroad, and conducting internal corporate investigations. Jim's interest in constitutional rights litigation continues, primarily on behalf of local governmental bodies.

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Professional Activities

Bar Associations: Mecklenburg County Bar Association, North Carolina Bar Association: Litigation Section; Constitutional Law Section, Chair, Large Law Firm Committee, 1997-1998; American Bar Association: Litigation Section and Business Law Section; Member, Select Drafting Committee of the N.C. Board of Bar Examiners, 1986-1993; Board of Directors, Legal Aid Society of Northwest North Carolina, Inc., 1983-1987 and Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont, 2001-2007 (President 2004-2006); Clinical Adjunct Professor of Law, Wake Forest University (Trial practice), 1982-1987; Member, International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.

Admitted to the bar 1973, North Carolina.

Admitted to practice before the United States Eastern, Middle and Western District Courts of North Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Elected to: Chambers USA (Litigation); Best Lawyers of America (Bet-the- Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation and Education Law); N.C. Super Lawyers (Business Litigation); Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (AV rating).

Education

B.A., Davidson College, 1969, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, McConnell Scholar; J.D., with honors, University of North Carolina School of Law, 1973; Member, Associate Justice, Holderness Moot Court; Member, National Moot Court Team; North Carolina Law Review; Union Theological Seminary (N.Y.), 1969-70, Rockefeller Brothers Fellow.

Prior Legal Experience

Partner, Pfefferkorn Cooley Pishko & Elliot (Winston-Salem, NC), 1976-84; Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellow (Winston-Salem, NC), 1974-76; Judicial Clerk, Judge J. Braxton Craven, Jr., United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1973-74.

Publications

Best Practices: Preparing for Managing E-Discovery," Martindale-Hubbell Counsel-to-Counsel Roundtable (2004); Contributor, Desk Book on Alternate Dispute Resolution in North Carolina (North Carolina Bar Association, 1991); Contributor, "Preventing and Resolving Construction Disputes," Center for Public Resources, Inc. (1991); "What is a Federal Case?," North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (1981); "The Federal Class Action in Environmental Litigation: Problems and Possibilities," 51 N.C.L. Rev. 1385 (1973); "Constitutional Law--Equal Protection and the 'Right' to Housing," 50 N.C.L. Rev. 369 (1972).

Presentations

Lecturer, "New Cases, New Causes" in The Mortgage Crisis: How Current Credit Woes Affect You and Your Clients (NC Bar Association, September 18, 2008); "Current Developments in Business Litigation," WCSR Business Litigation Retreat (September, 2005); Lecturer, "Conflicts of Interest in Construction Law," September 18-19, 1992; "The Americans With Disabilities Act," April 2, 1992; "At-Will Employment in North Carolina," October 2, 1991; "Advising Businesses About Employment Law Problems, June 6, 1991; "Employment Law - Practical Prevention: Traps For The Unwary, May 17, 1991; "A Discussion of Coman v. Thomas Mfg.," September 22, 1989; "Demonstrative Argument," June 19, 1984.

Additional Information

Current and Recent Cases of Note
Stephens v. Wachovia Corporation, No. 3:06cv246, 2004 WL 686214 (W.D.N.C. Mar. 7, 2008) (putative class action dismissed, and motion to compel arbitration and enforce customer’s class action waiver granted).

Howard Adams, et al . v. Action Ford, et al., C.A. No. 07-CP-02-1232 (represent national rental car company in defending “mass action” by consumer automobile purchasers against South Carolina automobile dealers).

In re Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 1:04-CV-00416 (MDNC) (represent former company officer on this and related litigations).

In re Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1486 (N.D. CA) (NC counsel in indirect purchaser class actions).

In re Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket No. 3:03-CV-1516 (WDNC) (represent defendant in DOJ price-fixing investigation and subsequent civil litigation).

McElreath v. Premark International, Inc., et al., 01-CV-01042 (Buncombe County, NC) (NC counsel indirect purchaser class action related to the High Pressure Laminates Antitrust Litigation).

Mecklenburg County v. Time-Warner Entertainment – Advance/Newhouse Partnership, No. 3:05 CV 333 (WDNC) (represent County in claims for breach of cable franchise agreement).

Gersing v. Hound Ears Club Limited Partnership, No. 01 CVS 777 (Watauga Superior Court 2003) (jury verdict for defendant golf club in a claim for breach of contract and unfair trade practices arising out of the development of property adjoining the golf club).

Friedland v. Snider, et al., (Case No. 97 CVS 7174) (Mecklenburg Superior Court 2001) and Friedland v. City of Charlotte, et al., (Case No. 3:98 CV 122-MU) (WDNC 2002) (summary judgment granted to City and its police officers in claims for malicious prosecution and violation of constitutional rights by a physician accused of murdering his wife).

Boring v. Buncombe County Board of Education, 136 F.3d 364 (4th Cir. 1998), cert.denied, 525 U.S. 813, 119 S.Ct. 47, 142 L.Ed.2d 36 (1998) (right to discipline teachers for teaching outside the prescribed curriculum adopted by a local board of education affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals en banc in the face of a claimed violation of teacher's First Amendment (academic freedom) rights).

Hartsell v. Duplex Products, et al., 123 F.3d 766 date (4th Cir. 1997) (defense verdict affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in an opinion that is one of the leading decisions on hostile work environment as a form of sexual harassment).

Hayes, et al. v. City of Charlotte, 10 F.3d 207 (4th Cir. 1993), Civil Action No. C-C-91-0158-P (4th Cir. 1994) (litigation involving an equal protection challenge to the Charlotte Police Department's affirmative action program which led to rehearing and elimination of a 23-year old Consent Order regarding minority hiring and promotion).

Moore v. Wykle, 107 N.C. App. 120, 419 S.E. 2d 176 (1992) (successfully defended a class action challenging the decision of county officials to use bond proceeds for a project not referenced during bond referendum).

Firm Management Responsibilities
Firm Management Committee, 1990-1998; 2006-2008.
Practice Group Leader, Business Litigation, 1996-1998, 2006-present.