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Very little about my upbringing was making my dream seem possible. Neither of my parents went to college. Dad was a plumber, and mom a secretary. Whenever I’d share my dream of becoming a lawyer, my parents typically responded with, “Yeah, that’s great, let’s move on.”
High school didn’t challenge me. I graduated in three years. And after my mom complained that I stayed out too late, one too many times, I escaped by getting married. I was just 17.
My father thought that beauty school would be a good way for a young married girl to make a living and paid for me to go. By 20, I had two daughters, and by 29, I had two sons.
In my twenties, I worked as a hairdresser, and I helped open a hairdressing school, but I felt increasingly disillusioned with life. I was twice divorced, with children, and still holding onto my dream of working in courtrooms, not hair salons.
After graduating, I worked for the largest personal injury firm in Massachusetts for 13 years. I took on difficult and precedent-setting cases that other lawyers avoided. I’d occasionally bring my law school mentor and now husband, Timothy Wilton, on as a consultant. We made a great team.
We litigated the first successful claim in Massachusetts to hold that an insurance company’s meritless appeal of an injured worker’s verdict was a bad faith insurance practice and violated the Consumer Protection Statute.
After graduating, I worked for the largest personal injury firm in Massachusetts for 13 years. I took on difficult and precedent-setting cases that other lawyers avoided. I’d occasionally bring my law school mentor and now husband, Timothy Wilton, on as a consultant. We made a great team.
We litigated the first successful claim in Massachusetts to hold that an insurance company’s meritless appeal of an injured worker’s verdict was a bad faith insurance practice and violated the Consumer Protection Statute.
I launched KJC Law Firm in 2010, and I hired my husband as a consultant. Our firm soon became a true family affair when I hired my daughter Jacki as our office manager. That same year, I prevailed in Law v. Griffith, a case that was deemed one of the most important decisions of the year and one that continues to aid plaintiffs seeking damages at trial for medical expenses.
Today, KJC Law Firm has a number of lawyers, paralegals, and staff. I remain active in bar association work and other efforts to promote fairness, justice, and equality in the trial bar and society.
I’ve come a long way, but I am essentially still the girl who debated her father at the dining room table, trying to make the world right. But rather than debate my father at the kitchen table, I now advocate for people in the courtroom, to create lasting change for all of society.
At KJC Law Firm, we pride ourselves in representing people.
We became lawyers to help find justice in our society, and we think that means helping individual people in their struggles against powerful, greed-driven corporate interests. We are here to help individuals in need, people who are facing the worst days of their lives, people who need help.We understand what it is like to struggle against the odds. When she was in her 30’s, the firm’s founder and Managing Attorney Kathy Jo Cook found herself divorced with four children, working as a hairdresser, with only a high school education. She worked her way through college and law school in 6 years and became such a successful lawyer that her peers elected her President of the Women’s Bar Association in 2008 and 2019-2020, President of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. All of our lawyers are people before they are lawyers; they can identify with what you are going through.
She was recognized by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and by Boston Magazine as one of the best attorneys in Massachusetts, and she has been elected by her peers as a “SuperLawyer” every year since 2008. The Firm gets regular advice and assistance from Professor Timothy Wilton, a highly regarded law professor with nearly 50 years of experience practicing, teaching, and training other lawyers in trial and appellate practice. Professor Wilton has three degrees from Harvard, including his law degree and an advanced law degree. He is the Director of the Trial and Appellate Advocacy Concentration at Suffolk University Law School, which has produced more trial lawyers and judges in Massachusetts and throughout New England than any other law school.
She has been recognized by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and Boston Magazine as one of the best attorneys in Massachusetts. She has also been named a “Best Lawyer” and the law firm a “Best Law Firm” by Best Lawyers and U.S. News & World Report.
The Firm gets regular advice and assistance from Professor Timothy Wilton, a highly regarded law professor with more than 50 years of experience practicing, teaching, and training other lawyers in trial and appellate practice. Professor Wilton has three degrees from Harvard, including his law degree and an advanced law degree. He is the Director of the Trial and Appellate Advocacy Concentration at Suffolk University Law School, which has produced more trial lawyers and judges in Massachusetts and throughout New England than any other law school.
We know that each case is unique. That’s why we don’t take an assembly line approach like some law firms. We will talk to you. We will come visit your home and see what your life is like. We will help you identify all the ways your life has been impacted, and we will help you find the best words to tell the jury about it.
We also recognize that each case is extremely important to the person who has been injured, cheated or discriminated against. We take a limited number of cases so that we can give your case the attention you deserve. We will answer your phone calls and respond to your concerns.
We strive to set the standard in the legal services industry for communication, responsiveness, helpfulness and compassion, remembering always to be grateful for our clients and the opportunity to serve them.
We work collaboratively as a team, and we put the team’s success ahead of our own.
We strive to raise the standards in the profession by producing A+ quality work consistently.
We prepare every case to put on the best trial possible. We don’t settle unless it is in our client’s best interest.
When we work together, you become part of our law firm family for life.
We continue to educate ourselves, practice what we learn and get better at everything we do.
We care for and respect ourselves, each other, our clients, opposing counsel and all others we come in contact with.
We leave our personal problems at home and strive to be consistent in our work.
We check our egos at the door.
We use our creativity to find new ways to overcome barriers and do things better.
Whether you have a podcast, a conference, or are writing an article, we love educating your audience about the ins and outs of our practice and expertise.
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