Roy A. Cooper Information & Roy A. Cooper Links at HealthHaven.com

Roy Cooper
	Roy Cooper
	;
49th North Carolina Attorney General
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 6, 2001
Governor	Mike Easley (2001-2009); Beverly Perdue (2009-present)
Preceded by	Mike Easley
Born	1957; Nash County, North Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Kristin Cooper
Alma mater	University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D.); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A.)

Roy A. Cooper, III (born 1957) is the current North Carolina Attorney General. He is a member of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

[edit] Personal life and education

Born in Nash County, North Carolina, Cooper was raised in a rural community and worked in tobacco fields during the summer as a teenager. He received the Morehead Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving as the president of the university's Young Democrats, and then also earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from UNC.

Cooper has a wife, Kristin, and three daughters, Hilary, Natalie, and Claire.

[edit] Political career

After practicing law with his family's law firm for a number of years, Cooper was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1986 and named to the North Carolina Senate in 1991. In 1997, he was elected Democratic Majority Leader of the state Senate. He continued to practice law as the managing partner of the law firm Fields & Cooper in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Cooper was elected North Carolina Attorney General in November 2000 and took office on January 6, 2001; he was re-elected for a second term in 2004. Cooper was mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for North Carolina governor in 2008, but he decided to run for re-election as Attorney General instead.^[1] He was easily re-elected, garnering more votes than any other statewide candidate in the November 2008 elections. ^[2] Both state and national Democrats attempted to recruit him to run against Republican Senator Richard Burr in 2010, but he declined.^[3]

[edit] Duke Lacrosse rape case

In January 2007, when Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong asked to be recused from dealing with the Duke lacrosse team rape case, Attorney General Cooper's office assumed responsibility for the case. On April 11, 2007, Cooper dismissed the case against the Duke lacrosse team players.

[edit] References

^ Andrea Weigl. "newsobserver.com: Cooper says he won't run for governor". http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/459634.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
^ News & Observer: Roy Cooper, N.C.'s most popular Democrat
^ Charlotte Observer: AG Roy Cooper says no to Senate race

[edit] External links

Legal offices
Preceded by Mike Easley	North Carolina Attorney General 2001-present	Succeeded by incumbent

[0] Andrea Weigl. "newsobserver.com: Cooper says he won't run for governor". http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/459634.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22.

[1] News & Observer: Roy Cooper, N.C.'s most popular Democrat

[2] Charlotte Observer: AG Roy Cooper says no to Senate race

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Contents

[edit] Personal life and education

[edit] Political career

[edit] Duke Lacrosse rape case

[edit] References

[edit] External links