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Lawrence Henry Cooke (October 15, 1914,Monticello,Sullivan County, New York – August 17, 2000, Monticello, Sullivan Co., NY) was an American lawyer and politician fromNew York. He wasChief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1979 to 1984.

He was the son of George L. Cooke and Mary E. (Pond) Cooke. He graduated fromMonticello High School (New York), fromGeorgetown University in 1935, and from theAlbany Law School in 1938. After opening a law office in Monticello in 1939, he was elected Supervisor of theTown of Thompson for two terms. He married Alice McCormack, and they had three children.

His judicial career began in 1953 when he was elected county judge, surrogate and Children's Court judge of Sullivan County. In November 1961, he was elected unopposed a justice of theNew York Supreme Court, and was appointed to theAppellate Division in 1968.

In1972, he ran for the Court of Appeals on theDemocratic andConservative tickets but was defeated. In1974, he andJacob D. Fuchsberg were the last two judges elected to theNew York Court of Appeals. In 1977, a constitutional amendment made the judgeships appointive. He was the firstChief Judge appointed by the Governor. He was nominated by GovernorHugh L. Carey on January 2, 1979, and confirmed by theNew York State Senate on January 23, 1979. He retired from the bench at the end of 1984 when he reached the constitutional age limit of 70 years.

He died at his home in Monticello, and was buried at the Rock Ridge Cemetery there.

• InIn re Rothko, he wrote the court's opinion finding that the executors of the estate of abstract expressionist painterMark Rothko violated theirfiduciary duties to the beneficiaries of Rothko's estate.
• InPeople v. Rogers, he wrote in the majority opinion that once a lawyer has entered a proceeding in what may develop into a criminal case, the police must cease questioning the suspect, and that a waiver of the right to counsel may be made only in the presence of counsel.
• InBeach v. Shanley, he wrote the court's opinion that theShield law permits areporter who has been called before agrand jury to withhold the name of confidential sources without being subject to any sanction for criminal contempt.
• InSharrock v. Dell Buick-Cadillac, he wrote the majority opinion that a state lien law permitting garage operators to satisfy an overdue bill by auctioning off the delinquent customer's car constituted a state deprivation of property without due process of law under the State Constitution.

A number of events and places have been named in his honor, including theAnnual Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke State Constitutional Commentary Symposium and theLawrence H. Cooke Sullivan County Courthouse. His name is also attached to several awards given to law students and lawyers.

• [1] Political Graveyard
• [2] Listing of Court of Appeals judges, with portrait
• [3] Obit in NYT on August 19, 2000,

Tribute to Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke, 1914–2000, byVincent Martin Bonventre, Albany Law Review, vol. 64, page 1, (2000)

• 1914 births
• 2000 deaths
• New York Supreme Court justices
• Chief judges of the New York Court of Appeals
• Albany Law School alumni
• People from Thompson, New York
• Georgetown University alumni
• People from Monticello, New York
• 20th-century New York state court judges
• Monticello High School (New York) alumni
• New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department justices

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