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Curriculum Vitae of John M. Cogswell

BORN:

  • August 17, 1939, in Del Norte, Colorado. Raised on ranches in Saguache, Colorado and western Kansas.

EDUCATION:   

  • St. Andrews' School, Middletown, Delaware (Cum Laude), 1957, President of Senior Class and Student Body, Captain of Wrestling Team.
  • Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, B.A. History, 1961, Captain of Heavyweight Crew.
  • Georgetown Law Center, Washington, DC, LLB (6th out of 120), worked for Congressman Bob Dole for three years full time while attending law school full time.
  • Basic School, USMC, February, 1965 (3rd out of 250).
  • Naval Justice School, USN, 1965 (2nd out of 78).

MILITARY:

  • U.S. Marine Corps. Released from active service as a Captain in August, 1967.

PROFESSIONAL:

  • In the U.S. Marine Corp., between 1965 and 1967, Mr. Cogswell handled approximately 75 special and general courts-martial, trial and defense. After three years of oil and gas practice with a small firm, Mr. Cogswell started his own firm in 1970 which grew to 44 lawyers in 1987. This firm disintegrated during the economic downturn in Denver in the late 1980’s.
  • Currently, Mr. Cogswell has a law office in Buena Vista, Colorado. He has been admitted to the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, U.S. District Courts in Colorado, Kansas and the District of Columbia, U.S. Court of Military Appeals, U.S. Tax Court and the Supreme Courts of Colorado and Kansas. He has been practicing law for 48 years.
  • Mr. Cogswell’s practice emphasizes complex commercial litigation and business and commercial transactions. He has been lead counsel in major class action cases representing sugar beet growers and oil and gas royalty and small share working interest owners producing CO2 gas. He has been involved in numerous other cases, agriculturally related and otherwise, in state and federal courts, both trial and appellate. He has had an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell since the early 1970s.

OTHER:

  • Candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1978 and 1980. Arapahoe County GOP Chairman, 1981-1983; prior director and trustee of various nonprofit institutions; director and secretary of Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation; and, between 1989 and 1998, General Partner of T-Bar Ranch, Ltd., which owned and operated a 1,200 cow ranch near Goodland, KS.