John Cooper (barrister)

John Gordon Cooper KC (born 15 September 1958 in Wolverhampton) is a British barrister specialising in human rights and criminal law, and a politician.

Career
Cooper is a member of 25 Bedford Row Chambers in London. He specialises in cases of homicide and serious violence, serious fraud and drug offences. He has also acted in cases such as the Jacintha Saldanha inquest, the Duchess of Cambridge prank call case and represented Nicola Edgington during her murder trial. Cooper also represented Thomas Cashman in his murder trial.

In 2012, he successfully acted for Paul Chambers, in his appeal over the Twitter Joke Trial.

He represented the majority of bereaved families in the Manchester Arena Inquiry (2020-2022). Other inquiries include representing the Labour Opposition Group, as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire.

He advised the London Mayor Sadiq Khan in relation to the 2018 John Worboys judicial review. Other judicial reviews include the cases of the deaths at Deepcut army barracks, of the government weapons inspector David Kelly and the challenge to the government in relation to the Conservative–DUP agreement.

Cooper advised 43 Labour MPs in relation to the 2019 British prorogation controversy.

He represented Ian Fitzgibbon in the 2023 Ashley Dale murder trial. He also acted for the defence in the so-called Tik Tok murder trial.

Cooper is also a broadcaster. He is a member of the Bar of England and Wales, and the Australian Bar. He was an honorary president of the League Against Cruel Sports, and he was appointed honorary professor of law at Cardiff University in 2011.

Cooper ran for the House of Commons as a candidate for the Labour Party in the 1987 election in North West Surrey and in the 1992 election in Amber Valley. He was a councillor on Watford Borough Council from 1990 to 1994.