About Mr. William D.
Mr. William D. Cook built a legal career that moves through small-town courtrooms, state government, island republics and private practice. He grew up academically focused on history and language and left Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.S. in 1966. He later earned a J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970.
His early work began in municipal court. In 1969 he served as a municipal court judge in Lufkin, Texas. That same year he spent time as an intern in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The mixture of courtroom responsibility and prosecutorial work at the outset of his career set a pattern. By 1976 he was an assistant district lawyer in the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office, handling matters in Alaska’s largest city.
The next decade expanded his public service. In 1980 he served as Assistant Lawyer General for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a post that placed him in an international legal environment. That year he also held a magistrate position in the Alaska Court System. A year later he worked as counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in the Alaska State House of Representatives. Those roles reflect a period when he alternated between judicial, executive and legislative work.
In 1982 he formed his own practice, establishing the Law Office of William Dennie Cook, PC. He has maintained that office for decades. His bar admissions include Alaska and Texas, and he is admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Courtroom work and appellate practice have both been part of his professional life.
Cook’s professional associations list several regional trial lawyer organizations. Between 2005 and 2015 he was a member of the San Antonio Trial Lawyers Association and the Washington State Association for Justice. He is also listed as a member of the Southern Trial Lawyers Association during 2014–2015. Earlier records indicate other long-term memberships.
He has balanced government roles and private practice throughout his career. That experience has kept him engaged in trial work, state-level litigation and federal appellate matters. He remains active in his firm and eligible to appear in the jurisdictions where he is admitted. He currently practices through the Law Office of William Dennie Cook, PC, handling matters in Alaska, Texas and in federal appellate forums, including the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
