Richard A. Cook

Law Clerk

After graduation from law school, Rich began working as a law clerk for the Honorable Andrew P. Rodovich, who served as a Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in Hammond, Lake County Indiana. Rich had a chance to see some of the best civil and criminal trial attorneys in trial and deal with a broad and diverse range of legal issues, such as:

• Environmental litigation
• Serious personal injury claims
• Civil rights claims
• Preliminary injunctions
• Complex criminal pretrial motions

Prosecutor

Following his service as a law clerk, he worked as Deputy Prosecutor for the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office for Jack Crawford. He tried a number of jury trials which encompassed crimes including:

• Murder
• Rape
• Robbery
• OWI causing death
• Confinement
• Capital murder

From there, he went on to serve the federal prosecutor as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana in South Bend, Indiana Division. There he handled a number of complex criminal matters involving crimes such as:

• Conspiracy
• Counterfeiting
• Mail fraud
• Wire fraud
• Illegal drug manufacturing
• Racketeering
• Murder for hire

He left the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1989, and during the following 17 years has focused primarily on civil defense and plaintiff’s work.

• All Indiana courts
• United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana
• United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, Chicago, Illinois

• Purdue University, Krannert School of Business, B.S. in Economics Honors Program, 1979
• Valparaiso University School of Law, graduated 15th in his class, 1982

• Personal injury
• Breach of contract
• Defamation
• Sexual harassment claims
• Employment disputes
• Construction related injury claims
• Civil rights claims
• Breach of contract relating to construction disputes
• Wrongful death
• Products liability
• Burn injuries
• Automobile accidents
• Libel-slander
• Environmental torts
• Real estate disputes
• Insurance coverage issues
• Acted as counsel in class actions

• Commendation for work as a federal prosecutor from the United States Attorney General Dick Thornburg
• Special Award from the Post Master General (for work prosecuting an elaborate altered postal money order scheme, operated within the Indiana State Prison system)
• Martindale-Hubbell AV Peer Review Rating

• American Bar Association, Litigation Section
• Member of Super Lawyers of Indiana
• American Association For Justice
• American College of Trial Lawyers