Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
John Ohlendorf has extensive experience with every aspect of litigation, from arguing discovery disputes and cross-examining trial witnesses to working on appeals at all levels of the state and federal judicial systems. Mr. Ohlendorf has written dozens of briefs in the United States Supreme Court and has argued numerous cases, including appeals in both state and federal court. While much of his career has focused on appellate advocacy, he has also developed deep experience litigating at the trial-court level, consistent with the Firm’s frequent approach of handling a matter over its entire lifespan, from the filing of the complaint to proceedings in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Ohlendorf’s litigation experience is wide-ranging, but it includes a particular focus on constitutional law and suits against the government. He has litigated multiple claims involving the separation of powers, the Appointments Clause, freedom of speech, the Second Amendment, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Takings Clause. He has been heavily involved in over thirty matters defending the right to keep and bear arms, and he was Counsel of Record on an amicus brief in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a recent Supreme Court case involving the Second Amendment right to carry a firearm, that was singled out by Justice Kavanaugh during the oral argument as very helpful to his consideration of the case. Mr. Ohlendorf has also litigated many cases involving administrative law and government contracts.
Before coming to Cooper & Kirk, Mr. Ohlendorf clerked for Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, taught at Northwestern University School of Law as an Olin-Searle-Smith Fellow, and then at Georgetown University Law Center as a Visiting Lecturer and Fellow at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. His articles have been published in the Notre Dame Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, National Affairs (with Joel Alicea), the Georgia Law Review, and the Maine Law Review. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 2010, where he was an Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and graduated with a B.A. from Bethany Lutheran College, summa cum laude, in 2007.
Senior Legal Fellow, Advancing American Freedom
Amy Swearer is a leading national expert on a wide range of public policy, legal, and constitutional issues, including the Second Amendment, criminal justice, and mental health policy. She has long been a respected conservative voice on gun policy and is routinely asked to testify before state and federal legislative bodies. Her work on birthright citizenship, meanwhile, has been featured extensively in litigation over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Swearer was formerly a Senior Legal Fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. At Heritage, she ran the Defensive Gun Use Database and was the primary author of the e-book “The Essential Second Amendment.” She was also a driving force behind the organization’s School Safety Initiative.
She was the 2022 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Joseph Shattan Award for “writing that presents conservative ideas in a powerful and compelling fashion to policymakers and the American people.” She was also named the Second Amendment Institute’s 2022 Gun Rights Champion.
Swearer received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was a member of the Nebraska Law Review. She holds a B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, where she was a Chancellor’s Scholar and a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team
Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
John Ohlendorf has extensive experience with every aspect of litigation, from arguing discovery disputes and cross-examining trial witnesses to working on appeals at all levels of the state and federal judicial systems. Mr. Ohlendorf has written dozens of briefs in the United States Supreme Court and has argued numerous cases, including appeals in both state and federal court. While much of his career has focused on appellate advocacy, he has also developed deep experience litigating at the trial-court level, consistent with the Firm’s frequent approach of handling a matter over its entire lifespan, from the filing of the complaint to proceedings in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Ohlendorf’s litigation experience is wide-ranging, but it includes a particular focus on constitutional law and suits against the government. He has litigated multiple claims involving the separation of powers, the Appointments Clause, freedom of speech, the Second Amendment, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Takings Clause. He has been heavily involved in over thirty matters defending the right to keep and bear arms, and he was Counsel of Record on an amicus brief in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a recent Supreme Court case involving the Second Amendment right to carry a firearm, that was singled out by Justice Kavanaugh during the oral argument as very helpful to his consideration of the case. Mr. Ohlendorf has also litigated many cases involving administrative law and government contracts.
Before coming to Cooper & Kirk, Mr. Ohlendorf clerked for Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, taught at Northwestern University School of Law as an Olin-Searle-Smith Fellow, and then at Georgetown University Law Center as a Visiting Lecturer and Fellow at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. His articles have been published in the Notre Dame Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, National Affairs (with Joel Alicea), the Georgia Law Review, and the Maine Law Review. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 2010, where he was an Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and graduated with a B.A. from Bethany Lutheran College, summa cum laude, in 2007.
Senior Legal Fellow, Advancing American Freedom
Amy Swearer is a leading national expert on a wide range of public policy, legal, and constitutional issues, including the Second Amendment, criminal justice, and mental health policy. She has long been a respected conservative voice on gun policy and is routinely asked to testify before state and federal legislative bodies. Her work on birthright citizenship, meanwhile, has been featured extensively in litigation over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Swearer was formerly a Senior Legal Fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. At Heritage, she ran the Defensive Gun Use Database and was the primary author of the e-book “The Essential Second Amendment.” She was also a driving force behind the organization’s School Safety Initiative.
She was the 2022 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Joseph Shattan Award for “writing that presents conservative ideas in a powerful and compelling fashion to policymakers and the American people.” She was also named the Second Amendment Institute’s 2022 Gun Rights Champion.
Swearer received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was a member of the Nebraska Law Review. She holds a B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, where she was a Chancellor’s Scholar and a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team
Managing Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
David Thompson is the Managing Partner of Cooper & Kirk and joined the firm at its founding. Mr. Thompson has extensive trial and appellate experience in a wide range of matters and has secured victories worth billions of dollars. He has successfully challenged numerous laws on Second Amendment grounds. He has also litigated cases in over 30 federal district courts, argued in each of the 13 federal circuit courts of appeal, and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as many state courts. Mr. Thompson was awarded an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1991, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1994, Mr. Thompson received a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Senior Legal Fellow, Advancing American Freedom
Amy Swearer is a leading national expert on a wide range of public policy, legal, and constitutional issues, including the Second Amendment, criminal justice, and mental health policy. She has long been a respected conservative voice on gun policy and is routinely asked to testify before state and federal legislative bodies. Her work on birthright citizenship, meanwhile, has been featured extensively in litigation over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Swearer was formerly a Senior Legal Fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. At Heritage, she ran the Defensive Gun Use Database and was the primary author of the e-book “The Essential Second Amendment.” She was also a driving force behind the organization’s School Safety Initiative.
She was the 2022 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Joseph Shattan Award for “writing that presents conservative ideas in a powerful and compelling fashion to policymakers and the American people.” She was also named the Second Amendment Institute’s 2022 Gun Rights Champion.
Swearer received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was a member of the Nebraska Law Review. She holds a B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, where she was a Chancellor’s Scholar and a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team
Senior Legal Fellow, Advancing American Freedom
Amy Swearer is a leading national expert on a wide range of public policy, legal, and constitutional issues, including the Second Amendment, criminal justice, and mental health policy. She has long been a respected conservative voice on gun policy and is routinely asked to testify before state and federal legislative bodies. Her work on birthright citizenship, meanwhile, has been featured extensively in litigation over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Swearer was formerly a Senior Legal Fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. At Heritage, she ran the Defensive Gun Use Database and was the primary author of the e-book “The Essential Second Amendment.” She was also a driving force behind the organization’s School Safety Initiative.
She was the 2022 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Joseph Shattan Award for “writing that presents conservative ideas in a powerful and compelling fashion to policymakers and the American people.” She was also named the Second Amendment Institute’s 2022 Gun Rights Champion.
Swearer received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was a member of the Nebraska Law Review. She holds a B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, where she was a Chancellor’s Scholar and a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team
Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
The Honorable Jennifer M. Perkins began service on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, on October 30, 2017. At the time of her appointment by Governor Douglas Ducey, Judge Perkins was Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Arizona.
Judge Perkins was born in Portales, New Mexico, and primarily raised in Albuquerque. She attended the prestigious Albuquerque Academy from 1988-1995, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University as a National Merit Scholar. Therafter, she relocated again to Dallas, Texas, and earned her juris doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2002.
Judge Perkins started her career at the law firm of Browning & Peifer (now Peifer, Hanson, Mullins, and Baker) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, she litigated complex commercial matters including class action plaintiff and defense work, and assisted with employment and contract litigation. In 2003, the judge accompanied the Honorable James O. Browning in transitioning to the federal district court bench, serving as his first law clerk.
After her clerkship, Judge Perkins moved to Arizona to work for the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm. She spent five years with IJ-AZ litigating civil rights cases in Arizona and across the country. In 2009, the judge became Disciplinary Counsel for the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, where she reviewed and prosecuted ethics complaints against state court judges throughout Arizona. After five years serving the state in this capacity, Judge Perkins entered private practice by joining an appellate law firm in Phoenix. While there, she worked on state and federal appeals involving a wide range of legal subjects, including complex business disputes, property rights, judicial ethics, and personal injury matters.
In January 2015, Judge Perkins joined the Office of the Arizona Attorney General to serve as the first Assistant Solicitor General; in that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of Attorney General Opinions and served as ethics counsel to the entire office. In addition to these two primary roles, the judge assisted on a variety of matters including trial and appellate litigation of election-related matters; federal appellate litigation with the Federalism Unit; state criminal appeals; and drafting amicus briefs on behalf of Arizona in state and federal courts.
Managing Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
David Thompson is the Managing Partner of Cooper & Kirk and joined the firm at its founding. Mr. Thompson has extensive trial and appellate experience in a wide range of matters and has secured victories worth billions of dollars. He has successfully challenged numerous laws on Second Amendment grounds. He has also litigated cases in over 30 federal district courts, argued in each of the 13 federal circuit courts of appeal, and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as many state courts. Mr. Thompson was awarded an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1991, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1994, Mr. Thompson received a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
From the Courthouse Steps: Wolford v. Lopez
John Ohlendorf, Amy E. Swearer
In Wolford v. Lopez, the Supreme Court held that Hawaii’s law prohibiting licensed concealed-carry permit...
From the Courthouse Steps: Wolford v. Lopez
John Ohlendorf, Amy E. Swearer
In Wolford v. Lopez, the Supreme Court held that Hawaii’s law prohibiting licensed concealed-carry permit...
Is there a Historical Originalist Perspective on Gun Control?
Wake Forest Student Chapter
Winston-Salem, NCThe Second Amendment and the Future of Bruen
Cleveland Lawyers Chapter
Akron, OH2nd Amendment Debate
Arizona State Student Chapter
Phoenix, AZCourthouse Steps Decision Teleforum: NY State & Rifle Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York
David H. Thompson
Please join Amy Swearer of the Heritage Foundation and David Thompson of Cooper & Kirk...
Courthouse Steps Decision Teleforum: NY State & Rifle Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York
Criminal Law & Procedure and Civil Rights Co-Sponsored Practice Group Teleforum
Teleforum