Attorney Profiles

Mr. Cook practices in the area of business litigation, construction, construction defects, real estate, insurance coverage, personal liability and landlord-tenant law. Mr. Cook serves as a court-appointed arbitrator and settlement judge pro tem, as well as a private binding arbitrator and mediator.

While born and raised in Ohio until the age of three, Mr. Cook is a local product, growing up in the Almaden area of San Jose, and attending Leland High School. From there, Mr. Cook went on to the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of California at San Diego where, in 1981, he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in history with minors in political science and visual arts. Mr. Cook spent the next year studying to take the Law School Admissions Test, and making enough money working construction to backpack through Europe before attending law school.

In 1982, Mr. Cook was admitted to the University of Oregon School of Law, in Eugene. Mr. Cook graduated in the top 20% of his class in 1985. While at the University of Oregon, Mr. Cook was the president of a Moot Court Board, participated in the regional Mock Trial Competition, and served in a extern for the Judiciary Committee of the Oregon State Legislature in Salem. Mr. Cook was also a recipient of the American Jurisdprudence Awards in commercial law, criminal procedure, and insurance law.

After passing the bar on his first try in 1985, Mr. Cook entered private practice with the law firm of Popelka, Allard, McCowan & Jones. Seeking a change of scenery and to satisfy his desire to practice in a "big city," Mr. Cook accepted a position with the law firm of Caroll, Burdick & McDonough in San Francisco. Recognizing that his heart and family remained in San Jose, as did his wife-to-be, Mr. Cook returned to San Jose and accepted a position at the newly formed law firm Willoughby, Stuart & Bening, where he has worked from its inception in 1991.

First as an associate, and now as a shareholder, Mr. Cook has helped make Willoughby, Stuart & Bening one of the most well respected and admired law firms in the San Jose legal community. While at Willoughby, Stuart & Bening, Mr. Cook has developed an expertise in the area of homeowners insurance company and first-party property insurance, as well as all other primary areas of insurance law and litigation, including commercial property and liability claims, personal injury, errors and omissions coverage. Because insurance is usually the driving force behind civil litigation, Mr. Cook has maintained an active practice in most areas of civil litigation. He can often find insurance coverage for clients who need it, or help insurance carriers determine if insurance obligations are owed, and if so, to what extent. He also represents private litigants outside the confines of insurance to try and achieve the best results for the least amount of money.

Mr. Cook is married and has two beautiful children, Griffin and Katie. He and his wife, Anne Scianella, live in the Santa Cruz mountains and are active in that tight-knit community where Mr. Cook is currently the Chief of his Indian Princess Tribe. Mr. Cook is an avid mountain biker, runner, skier, and all-around sports geek. His definition of the perfect day is a challenging mountain bike ride, a hearty meal at the beach with friends who smell equally bad, and a quiet evening at home with his family. Working hard and playing hard is the credo that has driven Mr. Cook's success as both a lawyer and person. He truly enjoys what he does for a living, yet does not allow it to define him.