Jessie A. Cook

Jessie A. Cook represents individuals accused of major felonies in state and federal courts. She graduated from IU Maurer School of Law (1979, cum laude), the National College of Criminal Defense and the Darrow College of Capital Defense. She teaches advanced trial advocacy at the Maurer School of Law- Bloomington, and for various continuing legal education programs including the Federal Defender Organization, the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and ICLEF’s Trial Advocacy Skills College. Jessie is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of its Access to Justice Committee. She served on the Indiana Supreme Court 's Rules Committee for ten years and chaired the Committee for the last five of those years. She is a founding member and former board member of the Indiana Federal Community Defenders, Inc., a Master Life Fellow and former Board member of the Indiana Bar Foundation, and a long-time member of the ISBA and its Criminal Justice Section's governing Council and has previously served as a  member of the ISBA'S Board of Governors and chaired its House of Delegates,  She is a member of NACDL, NLG,  NAACP and the ACLU. Jessie was the 2008 recipient of the IPDC’s Gideon Award, the 2013 recipient of the ISBA's“GP Hall of Fame Award” for excellence in general practice, and the 2014 recipient of the IFCD's Thurgood Marshall award for indigent defense in federal court.