The James W. Cooper Fellows nominate outstanding Connecticut lawyers, judges, and teachers of law to become James W. Cooper Fellows. The Connecticut Bar Foundation then extends invitations to nominees who have been selected by the Fellows Nominating Committee and approved by the Board of Directors. Nominees who accept their invitation to become a Fellow commit to a pledge of at least $2,500 to the program. The Foundation recognizes Fellows at an annual reception in their honor and publicizes their selection.
(l-r) James T. (Tim) Shearin, Hon. Janet C. Hall, William H. Clendenen, Jr.
The Fellows Program is named in honor of James W. Cooper, who was a prominent New Haven attorney and a senior partner of Tyler, Cooper & Alcorn. He served as President of the Connecticut Bar Foundation from 1973 to 1975, the Connecticut Bar Association from 1957 to 1958, and the New Haven County Bar Association from 1948 to 1949, and he was a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. In 1982, Attorney Cooper was the recipient of the Charles J. Parker Award for distinguished contributions to legal services for the poor. Attorney Cooper left a generous bequest to the Foundation.
(l-r) Andrea Barton Reeves and James Sicilian
Currently, the Fellows are working on several exciting programs and projects. These include:
- Connecticut Innocence Fund
- High School Essay Contest
- Oral History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession
- Truancy Intervention Project in New Britain
- An ADR symposium on Environmental and Land Use Dispute Resolution in Connecticut, co-sponsored by Quinnipiac University School of Law, which will be held March 17, 2017, at the Law School
- Other symposia scheduled for 2017 are one on Diversity, co-sponsored by the Connecticut Bar Association, and the Third Hon. Mark R. Kravitz symposium on Administration of Justice.