Contact Barbara
Areas of Practice
- Veterans Law
Barbara J. Cook
Barbara has been representing veterans and their dependents since 1989. She joined the firm as in May 2014, became a partner in July 2016, and transitioned to an Of Counsel role in 2022. Her law practice focuses on cases before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
Barbara graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1977, and holds a B.A. in English, also from the University of Michigan (1974). After law school, Barbara clerked for Federal District Judge Stewart Newblatt, E. D. Michigan. She then began working at the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati, where she was lead counsel in several successful state- and county-wide class actions, protecting the statutory and procedural due process rights of claimants and recipients of governmental benefits. In 1989, while still with the Cincinnati Legal Aid Society, she began representing veterans on their compensation and pension claims.
She opened a private practice limited to the representation of veterans and their dependents on VA compensation and pension claims in 1996. She has been a regular presenter at legal education conferences on substantive veterans’ law and brief writing. A member of the National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA) since 1994, Barbara has served on its Board of Directors and is the 2009 recipient of its Kenneth Carpenter Achievement Award for Excellence. She was inducted into the NOVA Hall of Honor in 2017.
Barbara is an avid knitter who also loves biking and gardening. She and her husband, Mike (who is also a lawyer), raised three boys and also have two grandsons.
Oral Arguments
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Court of Veterans Appeals Bar Association, Member
- NOVA, Member
Suggested Reading
Oral Arguments
Precedential Decision: Protected Work Environment, CCK Delivers Oral Argument at CAVC
December 4, 2018
