John Cooper | Virginia Beach Personal Injury Lawyer

John M. Cooper is a founding partner at Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers and a Virginia personal injury trial lawyer with more than 35 years of experience representing injured clients throughout Hampton Roads. Throughout his career, he has been dedicated to helping people navigate the legal system after serious accidents while fighting for the compensation they deserve.

A native of Hampton Roads, Virginia, he was raised in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1988, John returned home to work as a law clerk for a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division. John has a passion for justice and has been blessed to have a long career in personal injury law and litigation.

For over 35 years, John has worked closely with injured victims and their families and knows the long-term and devastating consequences that auto accidents, railroad accidents, and truck wrecks can have. John also understands that catastrophic cases, like wrongful deaths, are complex and require extensive time, skill, and resources to properly litigate in court. This knowledge and experience has helped him to become a highly effective, results-oriented accident litigation attorney who has won many millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients.

In 2020, John and his team obtained the largest reported recovery in Virginia that year, $6,500,000, for a single car accident plaintiff who was left a quadriplegic by the car crash. John’s other recent results include a $5,800,000 settlement for a traumatic brain injury victim and a $4,725,000 settlement for a child passenger who suffered vision impairment and multiple fractures in a car crash.

John’s strong record as an attorney has earned him numerous honors, including as a Top Lawyer by Coastal Virginia Magazine, a VA “Super Lawyer” designation (awarded to only 5% of lawyers in Virginia), and an AV Rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating given, for his reputation as highly ethical and pre-eminently qualified in the practice of law. John has been recognized by his peers on a national basis as among U.S. News Best Lawyers for both Plaintiff’s Personal Injury and Railroad Law. Virginia Lawyers Weekly named him a leader in the law and as a Hall of Fame inductee. John served for a decade on the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors and served as Chair of the FELA Litigation Group and the Railroad Law Section of the American Association for Justice. John regularly teaches about personal injury law for attorney groups like the Norfolk Portsmouth Bar Association and the Virginia Beach Bar Association.

In addition to his professional service, John is also extremely active in Hampton Roads civic, non-profit, and religious communities. Through Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers Cares, the firm’s philanthropic and outreach initiative, John ensures that significant contributions are made to Hampton Roads charitable organizations each year. CHIL Cares donates yearly to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, and the Legal Aid Society of Eastern VA. John has served as the President of his Jewish congregation, Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk, VA.