Professor James Cooper is director of International Legal Studies and Center for Creative Problem Solving.
He designs and develops multimedia educational tools to educate law
students, lawyers, judges and law enforcement officers on
problem-solving, cross-cultural negotiation, and judicial innovation. He
directs Proyecto ACCESO,
a legal skills training and rule of law public education program which
has been funded by and has partnered with the U.S. Government, German
Government, Organization of American States,
United Nations Development Programme, private philanthropic
foundations, and national ministries of justice around Latin America. He
also directs the Chile Summer Program for the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education.
In Fall 2008, he was a visiting professor at UCSD's Earl Warren College
and in the 2009-2010 academic year, he was a Visiting Scholar at the
Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at UCSD. In 2013 and 2014,
Professor Cooper was a Visiting Professor at Franz von Liszt Institute
at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, where he taught
International Human Rights Law. In 2015, Professor Cooper was a Short Term Visiting Scholar at the University of Macau.
Cooper is a co-director of the International Post Graduate Program with University of Heidelberg, University of Chile, and CEDEP in Asuncion, Paraguay and a member of academic staff of Heidelberg Center for Latin America. He also directs public education campaigns for governments in Latin America.
A Barrister and Solicitor, Cooper worked at Baker & McKenzie, the
world's largest law firm, facilitating international commercial
transactions and has taught at the University of Strathclyde Law School
in Glasgow and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
A frequent speaker, Cooper has given presentations at the Directors
Guild of America, Hague Appeal for Peace, Mondaneum, United Nations
Congress on Public International Law, Commonwealth Club of California, COMICON, Auditoria Democratica Andina, National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Rotary Club, World Bank, the World Affairs Council, the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Advisory Committee on Enforcement, and a Joint Session of the Congress of Paraguay. Cooper has written on foreign affairs and legal issues for The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, The San Diego Union Tribune,
The National Law Journal and The American Bar Association Journal, El
Mercurio (Chile), and El Alteno (Bolivia), and his written work has been
syndicated by the Scripps Howard News Service.
His work has also appeared in other newspapers and periodicals in North
America, South America and Europe. Cooper has been a television writer,
producer and director with his media work commissioned by Channel Four
(UK), the BBC, and the History Channel (US). He was profiled on the
front page of The Wall Street Journal and in The Washington Post. He has consulted for the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the Organization of American States as well as ministries of justice and law enforcement agencies in Latin America.