A renowned Liberian, international and corporate lawyer, Cllr. Cooper most recently served as Legal Advisor to the President of Liberia, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Prior to this post, he was Chief Counsel of the African Development Bank (AFDB), where he negotiated complex legal transactions for the Bank’s private sector Department. Additionally, while with AFDB, he was appointed the first head of the institution's Integrity and Anti-Corruption office. 

 

An expert lawyer, he lectured as adjunct Professor of Business Law at the University of Liberia. He co - authored with now Liberian Supreme Court Associate Justice Philip A. Z. Banks, The authoritative three volume treatise of Liberian Corporation Laws - Liberia World Corporate Domicile: Treatise, Statutes, Cases and Legal Materials and Co - Edited Volumes II, III, and IV Liberian Codes Revised. His writings on investing in Africa have been published, in the American Bar Association’s Journal Business Law Today, in the United States National Bar Association’s NBA Magazine and by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).  Most recently, he chaired the Management Board of the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), an international organization.

His professional memberships have included the Liberian National Bar Association, the International Bar Association, and the American Society for International Law. Counselor Cooper is a product of the College of West Africa (diploma), the University of Liberia (Bachelor of Business Administration), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (post-graduate studies in agricultural economics), and the University of Wisconsin Law School (Doctor of Law - Juris Doctor). He is admitted to practice law as an attorney and counselor-at-law in the Supreme Court of Liberia (1985), the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin (1981), and the Supreme Court of the United States of America (1985).