Chapman Alumnus Ryan Cooper (JD ’18) is a familiar presence on Fowler School of Law’s numerous panels for advocacy adjudication, routinely appearing in his customary role as a “presiding judge” at in-house competitions as well as the hotly contested annual Rutan & Tucker Golden Gavel contest for 1L students. Cooper brings a wealth of advocacy experience to these roles, adjudicating and guiding Chapman students in competition while helping them refine their courtroom skills and professional presence. 

Cooper’s commitment to mentoring the next generation of Fowler graduates mirrors, in many ways, his own introduction to the practice of law and his 2L summer clerkship at a plaintiff personal injury firm. Thrown into the deep end from day one, Cooper found himself running a full caseload and managing a team of paralegals on his first day in the office to help the firm “plug the hole between lawyers, as one exited and one came on board.”

Shouldering this enormous responsibility was daunting but manageable with the excellent support system Cooper had around him, “I just had to figure it all out,” says Copper, “but I was lucky in that I was at a really helpful firm with so many amazing people willing to help me out and mentor me along the way.”

This is a common theme threading its way through much of his career, from even as early as pre-admission to Fowler School of Law. As a pre-law student, Cooper only sent out one law school application–the one to Fowler School of Law. “Being accepted felt like a gift,” he says, reporting on how lucky he felt to be accepted. It drove him to take his 1L year very seriously, dividing his time evenly between getting the sort of grades that would make him an excellent candidate for the Chapman Law Review editorial team and finding the sweet spot in the Venn diagram between the areas of law he liked and what he realistically could apply himself to for years to come.

“Do you make it, or do you find it?” Cooper speculates aloud about settling on a good career path. Perhaps a bit of both as in Cooper’s case, where he reports loving personal injury law from the first taste of it in his fateful 2L summer–liking it enough for a return visit and then turning it into a well-hewn career path, “I think I just listened to my gut the whole way,” he offers, “I was thrown in the deep end from day one, but I really liked [personal injury law], enough to come back for more and keep coming back!”

For Cooper, the transition from law student to professional practice was entirely facilitated by mentorship–those mentors that fell into his lap and those he sought out along the way. It was through mentorship with senior lawyers that made it obvious to Cooper that the “transition from law graduate to practicing professional wasn’t a bridge that you cross, but more of a bridge that you have to build for yourself,” with mentors showing you how, and where, to build and conduct professional relationships–a skill Cooper is keen to impart on the fledgling law students currently studying at Fowler.

His advice to students follows a somewhat paradoxical approach, “I tell students that they really shouldn’t know definitively what their career paths should look like, after law school; you’re in danger of closing yourself off to things that might surprise you, to things in the law you might like.” 

Coupled with Cooper’s constant admonition to “work hard and chase the stuff that excites you,” this seems like hard-earned advice, particularly for law students trying to figure out the path ahead while laboring under the weight of their studies. Cooper’s advice advocates a career path that is lit by the aspects of law that resonate with a student’s personal drivers, while avoiding the mistake of following a borrowed narrative of the “right” or expected thing to do. Cooper cites more than a few examples of peers who, a few years out of law school, may still be struggling to find their niche in professional practice despite shifting career focus a few times. 

Cooper’s own passion for personal injury law cannot be separated from his passion for advocacy, a trait he is working hard to impart to students from behind the bench in the competition arena. 

“I absolutely love that I get to represent someone who is being taken advantage of by an insurance company,” he adds, “it means I get to be the person who stands up for those people and goes to bat for them.” Yet Cooper also acknowledges the hard behind-the-scenes work that goes into being a successful advocate in personal injury law, particularly the relationship-building and hand-holding that is part and parcel of the job and a welcome privilege for Cooper, “You meet people right at the beginning when they are at their most vulnerable, and then you get to be a part of their evolution, of their healing.”

After being in the personal injury space for nine years and cementing his position in this space, Cooper is looking forward to deepening his knowledge and understanding of this practice area as well as his own skills in the courtroom. This is likely something Fowler students will benefit from as this Chapman alumnus offers his mentees the advantages of his years of experience carving out his career path and honing a well-founded passion for advocacy.