Donald Q. Cochran, Jr.
Donald Q. Cochran is the Middle District of Tennessee’s incumbent U.S. Attorney. He is a man of the law as well as an academic, having had teaching experience before being appointed into office.
President Donald Trump had officially nominated Atty. Cochran on the 29th of June in 2017, with the Senate confirming the same three months later. He was formally sworn into office as a United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee on the 21st of September in 2017, a week after the Senate has confirmed his nomination.
His prosecutor work on the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, and Harry Snyder and Renee Peugeot earned him the highest awards given by the Department of Justice for trial work, which is the John C. Marshall Award.
Table of Contents
Work History
Atty. Cochran is both a man of the law and the academe. He was a law professor at the Belmont Law School before he was appointed a United States Attorney. He also taught the subjects of trial advocacy and criminal law in the Cumberland School of Law.
After he went on his nine years of military service, he worked as a clerk for the District Court of the Northern District of Georgia‘s then judge Julie E. Carnes. Then, he went on to become a prosecutor in Jefferson County, Alabama, where he was in charge of persecuting violent crimes.
Donald Cochran then joined the staff of the Northern District of Alabama as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1998 to 2002. During his time as an Assistant United States Attorney, he prosecuted white-collar crimes, violent crimes, and even public corruption. A notable case he has handled was about the final defendant charged with the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
Awards
Atty. Cochran was a prolific lawyer. During his time in Alabama as a federal prosecutor, he was bestowed the John C. Marshall Award by the Department of Justice for his trial work. His successful prosecution of Bobby Frank Cherry in 2002, the person responsible for the bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1963, made him the rightful recipient of the award.
Attorney Cochran is also the recipient of the 2001 Department of Justice Director’s Award after his successful prosecution of the case that involved the reporting of falsified drug test results to the FDA, a grave federal offense.
Areas of Expertise
- Violent Crimes
- White-collar crimes
- Public corruption
- Sexual assault cases
Educational Background and Military Service
Atty Donald Cochran earned his undergraduate degree and his J.D. at Vanderbilt University. After he received his bachelors’ degree, he entered the military and served for nine years as an Army Ranger and a Special Forces officer. He then earned his law degree after his service in 1992.
Teaching Career
Atty. Cochran joined the faculty of Birmingham’s Cumberland School of Law in 2002. He taught in the academe for ten years before joining the faculty at Belmont University’s College of Law.
Contact Details
Full name: Donald Q. Cochran, Jr.
District: Middle Tennessee
Email address: [email protected]
Nashville Office
110 9th Avenue South, Suite A-961
Nashville, Tennessee 37203
Middle District of Tennessee Main Phone: (615) 736-5151
Middle District of Tennessee Fax Line: (615) 401-6626
Social Media Profiles of Donald Cochran
Twitter Field
Username: U.S Attorney-Middle District of Tennessee
Tag: USAO_MDTN
Username: U.S. Attorney-Middle District of Tennessee
Tag: @USAO_MDTN
URL: https://twitter.com/usao_mdtn
Updated: June 15, 2020
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