Our Partners
Edmund D. Cooke, Jr.
Partner
Edmund D. Cooke, Jr. is
Edmund D. Cooke, Jr. is a founding partner of Cooke Cleveland LLC with decades of experience in labor and employment law, civil rights, appellate litigation, and administrative law. He has argued before nine of the twelve U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, served as lead counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives on major legislative initiatives, and contributed to the development of EEOC procedures that remain in use today. He has taught employment discrimination law at Syracuse College of Law and chaired the OIC International Board of Directors, which operated job training programs across nineteen African countries.
Ed is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served on active duty during the Vietnam era. He holds a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and brings international governance and policy experience to the firm’s practice.
CREDENTIALS
Education: Master of Arts, International Public Policy — Johns Hopkins SAIS; JD — University of Michigan School of Law
Bar Admissions: District of Columbia Bar (active); Michigan Bar (inactive)
Military Service: United States Air Force, Active Duty, Vietnam Era
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Lisa S. Cleveland
Of Counsel
Lisa S. Cleveland is a founding partner of Cooke Cleveland LLC with extensive experience in corporate law, public finance, securities, international business, and family law. Before founding the firm, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Rush Communications, where she managed the legal affairs of 27 companies and led the $100M+ sale of the Phat Farm and Baby Phat brands. Her international finance work has included transactions across Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East, including a $75M property portfolio valuation and raising $110M in debt financing for a U.S. developer’s European expansion.
Lisa has also practiced family law and represented domestic violence survivors through federally funded legal aid programs. She is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar and holds FINRA Series 7, 63, and 24 licenses. She is conversant in Spanish and has working knowledge of Dutch and Papiamento.
CREDENTIALS
Education: JD & MBA (Joint Program) — Harvard Law School & Harvard Business School; BA, English — Yale University
Bar Admissions: New York State Bar; New York City Bar; United States Supreme Court Bar
Licenses: FINRA Series 7, 63, and 24
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Shani M. Cooke
Paralegal
Shani M. Cooke is of counsel at Cooke Cleveland LLC, where she also manages the firm’s operations and administration. She holds a JD from Duke University School of Law and two master’s degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London — one in African Politics and one in Middle East Politics. Her legal experience spans federal and state courts, government service, and private practice, including federal claims litigation at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, post-conviction and habeas corpus work as a Deputy Attorney General at the Nevada Office of the Attorney General, criminal justice reform as a postgraduate fellow with the same office, and complex civil litigation, securities, labor and employment, and disability rights work in private practice at Cooke | Chevalier LLC, Lee Landrum & Ingle, and Motley Rice.
Prior to law school, Shani spent nearly a decade in international policy, serving as an Associate Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Department of Political Affairs — advising senior UN leadership on governance, peacekeeping, and conflict resolution in West and North Africa, including coordinating a joint UN-ECOWAS fact-finding mission and serving as political advisor during contested presidential elections in West Africa — and as a Conflict Mitigation Specialist at USAID, supporting the Africa Bureau on stabilization and reconstruction programs across West, North, and Southern Africa. She holds Arabic language certifications from Middlebury College and the American University in Cairo, is a certified mediator (New York State Unified Court System) and certified facilitator of dialogue processes (Folke Bernadotte Academy), and is developing her practice in international law and AI, technology, and privacy law.
CREDENTIALS
Education: JD — Duke University School of Law; MS, African Politics — SOAS, University of London; MS, Middle East Politics — SOAS, University of London; BA, International Relations — Wellesley College
Bar Admissions: State Bar of Nevada (active); DC Bar admission in process
Certifications: Certified Mediator — NY State Unified Court System / Safe Horizon; Certified Facilitator — Folke Bernadotte Academy; Certified Contract/Agreement Officer — USAID
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Adeyinka Ogunleye
Of Counsel
Adeyinka Ogunleye is of counsel at Cooke Cleveland LLC, focusing on immigration law, labor and employment, environmental law, and corporate compliance. He holds an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from American University Washington College of Law and an LL.B. from the University of Lagos. Before joining Cooke Cleveland, he served as Associate in Corporate Immigration at a boutique immigration firm in Rockville, Maryland, advising corporate clients on employment-based immigration strategies across the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, H-1B, and L-1 categories, and as Legal and Compliance Manager at Emerge Baltimore, ensuring organizational adherence to applicable state and federal regulations.
Adeyinka also advises startups and technology founders on U.S. immigration pathways, including the O-1A, O-1B, EB-1A, EB-2 National Interest Waiver, and E-2 Treaty Investor visa, working strategically to align visa options with each client’s professional profile and long-term goals. Earlier in his career, he practiced in Lagos, Nigeria, representing corporate and financial services clients before the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission and Central Bank of Nigeria on regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and labor and employment matters. His academic research on climate finance, renewable energy, and environmental regulation in the Global South informs his environmental law practice.
CREDENTIALS
Education: LL.M., International Legal Studies — American University Washington College of Law; MBA, Project Management — Washington University of Science and Technology; LL.B. — University of Lagos
Bar Admissions: New York (active); Nigeria (active); Maryland (UBE transfer pending)
Certifications: Arbitration, Mediation, and ADR (certified)
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Theophilus Abolarin
Of Counsel
Theophilus Abolarin (Theo) brings a rare combination of Nigerian and American legal training to his practice at Cooke & Cleveland, LLC. Before coming to the United States, he spent more than three years as an Associate at Akinwunmi & Busari in Lagos, handling a broad range of contentious matters in Nigerian courts, from commercial disputes and insolvency proceedings to criminal litigation — experience that gave him a working fluency in adversarial practice long before he set foot in a U.S. courtroom. He went on to earn his J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, after which he served as a Law Clerk at McCarthy Family Law in Tucson before going on to serve as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Casey F. McGinley of the Arizona Superior Court, where he drafted rulings and advised the bench on complex legal questions across a range of civil and criminal matters.
Theo now practices at the intersection of immigration removal defense and federal civil litigation. On the immigration side, he represents clients from the moment a Notice to Appear is issued through the full course of removal proceedings — advising on strategy at the master calendar stage, preparing clients and evidence for individual merits hearings, arguing asylum claims, and briefing appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals. His background in Nigerian law and his experience across two legal systems give him a depth of perspective that is particularly valuable to clients whose cases involve complex cross-border facts. In his civil litigation practice, he focuses on federal court matters with an emphasis on securities litigation and regulatory enforcement.
CREDENTIALS
Education: J.D. — University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law; LL.B. — University of Lagos; Law School Certificate — Nigerian Law School, Abuja
Bar Admissions: District of Columbia (May 2024); Maryland (June 2026); Nigerian Bar (called to the Bar, 2014)