Matt Cooper, B.A, MLIS, J.D.

Matt Cooper oversees the reference staff at the Moritz Law Library. He also provides research and reference services to students, faculty, staff, and other visitors of the law library. Cooper teaches various research and writing courses including Legal Analysis and Writing I to first-year students and Advanced Legal Research to upper-level students. He is a licensed attorney, having been a member of the Ohio Bar since 2001. Prior to joining the library, Cooper worked as an assistant public defender in Wilmington, Ohio, representing numerous indigent clients in felony and misdemeanor criminal matters. He also worked as a staff attorney at the Twelfth District Ohio Court of Appeals, assisting judges with legal research and opinion drafting.

Cooper is a member of the American Association of Law Libraries, the Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries, and the Columbus Bar Association.

Selected publications and presentations:

• Book Review of This is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration, 116 Law Libr. J. 124 (2024).
• Presentation, “Introduction to Ohio Legal Resources and Research Strategies,” Columbus Bar Association Summer Associate Seminar (June 2022, June 2023)
• Presentation, “Resources and Strategies for Efficient 50-State Research,” Columbus Bar Association Summer Associate Seminar (June 2020, June 2021).
• Book Review of Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court, 112 Law Libr. J. 141 (2020)
• Presentation, “Educating in Research . . . and Writing: Jumping into the Deep-End by Teaching Both Skills,” Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting (October 2019).
• Presentation, “Effective Legal Research” (co-panelist), Columbus Bar Association Summer Associate Seminar (June 2019).

• BA, University of Notre Dame
• JD, Moritz College of Law
• MLIS, Kent State University