Edward Schrager: Remembering Jessie Cook, a respected and beloved attorney

(Editor’s note: Attorney Jessie Cook of Unionville died March 17 in Bloomington at the age of 71. Her friend and colleague Edward Schrager offers these remembrances.)

The legal community has lost a fierce advocate, a trusted colleague and a devoted friend with the passing of Jessie Cook.

I met Jessie in June 1977 as we both started law school along with 20 other fresh new students. I learned within a matter of weeks that Jessie was both the brightest and quietest student in the class. We became friends that month and remained friends for 47 years.

Twice I asked Jessie to serve as co-counsel on serious felony cases. In each case she provided first-rate services to our clients.

We enjoyed discussing our “tricks of the trade” as we worked seamlessly through those cases. We found that the two of us working together was greater than the sum of our separate parts, which defines an optimal co-counseling relationship.

Over my 41-year practice, these were the only cases where I was not lead counsel, given her enormous talents. In her own quiet way, Jessie was a little bossy but only for the better interest of the client. The opportunity to work with Jessie was a pleasure and something I will never forget.

Our first case together was a one-week murder trial in Bloomington. Well before trial, we spent no more than five minutes dividing the witnesses between us.

Seared in my memory was Jessie’s masterful cross examination of the coroner. “Masterful” as she was as methodical as she was strategic. Every question was leading and had a clear purpose. Never once did she go back over areas already covered.

Jessie’s cross was a skill to behold. Lean, sparse and deadly. Jessie well understood juries, had no illusions about them. As I fell in love with the presentation of our case, Jessie predicted that the jury would return a verdict by 3:30 on the fifth day of trial. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the jury informed Judge Diekoff that it had reached a verdict at 3:26 on day five.

The second case was in 2015 when we represented of a high-profile gentleman charged with rape. Jessie took responsibility for the cross of the complaining witness and the ob-gyn called by the state.

Jessie expertly conducted the cross on each of these witnesses in such a way that it coalesced perfectly with the direct of our expert and of our client. I always thought Jessie was quite emotionless. I was wrong. When the not guilty verdict was read, Jessie wept. Given her stoic persona, Jessie surprised me when she confided that she was routinely so nervous the night before closing arguments that she threw up. That is not the sign of one who does not believe. But rather the sign of someone who cares deeply.

Judge David Hamilton of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals commented that “Jessie was as fine a lawyer as I have ever had appear before me and that list includes the most prominent SCOTUS advocates of this day.”

Hamilton characterized Jessie as a “triple threat.” By this he meant that she was an outstanding trial lawyer, an inspiring and creative lawyer at sentencing and was an excellent advocate both orally and in written form.

Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis was similarly effusive in her assessment of Jessie.

Barker said the district judges viewed Jessie as a “defendant whisperer” whose confidence and ability to relate to her clients put them at ease. According to Judge Barker, Jessie’s clients “seemed to trust her in much the same ways we all did—completely and implicitly”. Judge Barker related that “as a trial lawyer, Jessie was top of the heap. As a colleague and friend, she was peerless.”

My last two encounters with Jessie were poignant. We met for lunch in June 2023. I confided to Jessie that I had recently been diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of leukemia. In turn, Jessie dispassionately told me that she had recently been diagnosed with ALS, one of the most cruel and unforgiving diseases.

Jessie suggested we get together a year later should we both survive given our respective medical circumstances.

Our most moving time together was last December. She was in her wheelchair as I sat next to her in her wonderful home north of Bloomington.

How beautiful was the view from her kitchen window. Birds of all kinds in the foreground with a tranquil and picturesque lake in the background. Jessie proudly showed me photos of her beloved Switzerland, from where her family originated. We talked about life and its challenges as well as wonderful things along the way.

Jessie was a force of nature literally to the last day of her life. On March 17, Jessie died in the arms of her beloved husband of 27 years, Steve Dillon, who is an outstanding lawyer in his own right.

In the period of 48 hours before her death, Jessie worked on two different motions to be filed in federal court. Eight months earlier, the case of U.S. v Erlinger 602 U.S. ___2024 was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision in favor of Jessie’s client.

Jessie was a remarkable person who made an indelible mark on all of us. The sense of loss that so many of us feel is simply an indication that her life was such a success, one of beauty and inspiration.•

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Ed Schrager resides in southwest Florida and New England with his wife Pam and two pugs. He was continuously designated both as A-V by Martindale-Hubbell since 1997 and as a Super Lawyer since 2007 until his retirement in 2021. Schrager can be contacted at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.