Categories newsmakers | 1980sPosted on

J. Gordon Cooney Jr. ’81

J. Gordon Cooney Jr. ’81, managing partner at the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, will receive the 2011 Judge Learned Hand Award from the American Jewish Committee this January. Cooney and Michael Banks, also a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and a co-honoree, have been pro bono legal representation for John Thompson, a former death-row inmate, wrongly convicted for the murder of a New Orleans executive and an unrelated armed carjacking. Working together on the case since 1988, Cooney and Banks uncovered evidence, witnesses, and other critical information that had not been provided to Thompson’s initial defense team. In 2003, they retried the case: after just 35 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Thompson not guilty. Totally exonerated, Thompson was released after 18 years in prison. Serving as co-chair of the Judge Learned Hand Award event is Charisse R. Lillie ’74.
J. Gordon Cooney Jr. ’81, managing partner at the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, will receive the 2011 Judge Learned Hand Award from the American Jewish Committee this January. Cooney and Michael Banks, also a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and a co-honoree, have been pro bono legal representation for John Thompson, a former death-row inmate, wrongly convicted for the murder of a New Orleans executive and an unrelated armed carjacking. Working together on the case since 1988, Cooney and Banks uncovered evidence, witnesses, and other critical information that had not been provided to Thompson’s initial defense team. In 2003, they retried the case: after just 35 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Thompson not guilty. Totally exonerated, Thompson was released after 18 years in prison. Serving as co-chair of the Judge Learned Hand Award event is Charisse R. Lillie ’74.