News
News
July, 2020
We are pleased to announce that our Associate, Joey Marie Went, has successfully passed the Kentucky Bar Exam, and is now a member of the Kentucky Bar Association.
April, 2020
Duane Cook is proud to announce that he has joined the Board of Directors for the Scott/Bourbon Counties Habitat for Humanity, effective January 1, 2020.
October, 2019
We are proud to welcome a new lawyer to our practice. Joey Marie Went grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. She received her undergraduate degree in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. She attended Cornell Law school, concentrating on international corporate law. While at Cornell, Joey was an editor of both the International Law Journal and the Legal Information Institute online journal. She also attended the Cornell Law School and Université de Paris I Program in International and Comparative Law at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. After law school, Joey was admitted to the Illinois bar and joined Kirkland and Ellis as an associate, specializing in asset-backed securitization, mergers and acquisitions, and public and private securities offerings. Following her departure from Kirkland, she worked for Reed Smith on mortgage insurance litigation resulting from the housing market crash. Joey is excited to have returned to the Bluegrass State with her husband and 4-year-old triplets. Joey’s application to become a member of the Kentucky bar is pending.
August 23, 2019
We are very proud to announce that Christine Sawalha has joined our staff a Legal Assistant and Project Manager. She comes from Jordan, where she worked with the United States Embassy in the Office of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Her administrative work there included managing large technical projects and budgeting. This work involved coordination with the United Nations (UN), Jordanian governmental departments and the Jordan University of Science and Technology. She loves project management which requires careful attention to detail and deadlines. She is tri-lingual, with fluency in English, French and Arabic. The proud mother of four, Christine is active at St. John Catholic Church here in Georgetown and has a small catering business on the side!
August 19, 2019
We are proud to announce that Duane has received a 2019 AV Preeminent rating with Martindale-Hubbell! An AV Preeminent is the highest peer rating standard. This rating signifies that a large number of the lawyer’s peers rank him at the highest level of professional excellence for legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards.
June 4, 2019
Cook & Watkins, PLC, has a ranking in the 2019 Edition of the U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” Rankings, and Attorney Duane Cook recently received the 2019 Lawyers of Distinction award recognizing excellence in Corporate and Transactional Law
April 3, 2019
Cook & Watkins, PLC congratulates John Sosbe of our Georgetown office on his recent jury trial win in Scott County. John’s clients were two married couples who own adjoining farms near the community of Stamping Ground. A third landowner, the Defendant in the case, had previously erected a fence enclosing parts of the two tracts, and asserted a claim of adverse possession on the property within the fence based on his assertions that the fence had remained in that location for over thirty years. A Scott County jury heard two days of testimony and arguments on the issue before deliberating less than an hour and returning a unanimous verdict in favor of John’s clients.
August 1, 2018
We are very pleased to announce that Duane was selected by his peers for recognition in the 2019 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America© for his work in Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships).
The Best Lawyers in America© is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession worldwide. Inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© is entirely based on peer-review. The methodology is designed to capture the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area as accurately as possible.
August 15, 2017
We are proud to announce that Duane was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2018 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America for his work in the area of Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships).
June 15, 2017
We are delighted to announce that Tyler Puckett has joined us full time. Tyler interned with us while attending law school. He graduated in May and will take the Kentucky bar exam in July.
March 13, 2017
Our associate Mikel D. McKinley, Jr. is leaving the Georgetown office of Cook & Watkins to start his own law practice. We wish him the best in the future.
February 17, 2017
We have moved our Georgetown office to the picturesque Victorian era home located at 306 N. Hamilton Street in Georgetown only a few blocks from our office on Broadway. Our email addresses and phone numbers remain the same.
February 2017
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in London today issued its decision denying the motions of the University of the Cumberlands to dismiss the breach of contract claims brought against the University by our clients, Dr. James Taylor, and his wife, Dinah. Dr. Taylor served the University as its president for 35 years. Yet the University refused to honor its contract and sought to dismiss the claims of Dr. and Mrs. Taylor even though their contract, which provides substantial retirement benefits, was in writing and was signed by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University. The decision allows the Taylors to proceed on the primary claims made against the University, including breach of contract, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
January 2017
John Sosbe collected in full a judgment restoring to our client a Woodford County farm and home worth over a million dollars and awarding her $500,000 in punitive damages. The Defendants agreed to dismiss their appeal. John won the judgment after a jury trial in 2016.
December 2016
We closed over $50 Million in loans for our clients this month; representing lenders and business borrowers.
