JANE LEE
Editor In Chief
Roger Cossack was never nervous sitting beside Greta Van Sustern as a CNN legal analyst and co-host of the award-winning show “Burden of Proof.” Nor does he remember nerves affecting his appearance before the United States Supreme Court.
Cossack also put nerves aside to break the decision on CNN in the 2000 Bush v. Gore race from the steps of the Supreme Court on a cold January evening.
Put him on camera as a legal analyst for ESPN — a sports network seen in almost 100 million homes — and give him the task of talking about the steroids hearings or Michael Vick’s dog-fighting troubles. Still no nerves.
But bring Cossack into a classroom of 40 college students, and chances are his stomach will be singing a different tune.
“I don’t know what it is, but talking in front of students gets me so nervous,” he says. “I have to start preparing for class hours before I go in to teach.”
Cossack is no stranger to the material. Teaching law rather than practicing it, however, is still a learning process — one never taught during his time at the UCLA School of Law, where he graduated in 1966.
Cossack’s role as a professor began in 2007 when the Pepperdine School of Law invited him on board as an adjunct. He taught a one-unit seminar class in the fall and is now leading a three-unit Law and the Media course.
“I think that the opportunity when it was presented to be able to talk with students was just too good to turn down,” Cossack said.
While sitting in his ocean-view office a couple hours before a recent class, Cossack modestly talks about his career. The gloomy weather, though, makes his mind wander as he enjoys a bowl of soup and ponders over his new home.
“I thought Malibu was supposed to be sunny all the time,” he says as he tugs on his green tweed sweater. “I had to have this sweater shipped out to me because I didn’t bring any warm clothes. And look at it — it looks like something you’d see on a troubled guy wandering the streets.”
Cossack may not have his new professor wardrobe down, but the same cannot be said of his legal knowledge. One look at his resume, and it’s easy to understand why he was asked to stand in front of students at a prestigious law school.
Cossack claims he never heard a higher calling to be a lawyer. In fact, he believes the only reason he landed in law school is because it gave him three additional years in the classroom.
“I just heard a voice asking what I knew how to do well,” he said. “School was the only thing that came to mind.”
Now, 42 years after graduating from UCLA, Cossack is left reflecting on his fortuitous career that has led him to immeasurable experiences.
Before joining CNN, he practiced law in the Los Angeles area, both as a prosecutor with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, and as a criminal defense attorney with a specialized practice in the federal courts.
“In 1994 I got called up by CNN, was asked if I would come in and do some legal commentary for five minutes, and it never stopped,” he said.
While at CNN, Cossack covered the top legal stories from 1995 to 2002, including the O.J. Simpson trial, President Clinton’s impeachment proceedings and the 2000 presidential election.
“Those were all incredibly exciting,” he said. “I knew I was at the center of history and was talking about things people cared about.”
Around the time he left CNN, Cossack received a call from ESPN asking him to provide legal analysis.
“More and more these days, sports figures are involved in court cases,” said Mark Preisler, ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer. “Roger covers our back and provides us with great insight into these cases.”
Even while teaching, Cossack still spends time each week calling into ESPN from Pepperdine’s broadcast studio in the CCB. Just days ago Cossack walked right down the street from the law school into the studio and talked about Barry Bonds’ lawyer filing a motion to dismiss his lawsuit, and civil disposition in the Roger Clemens lawsuit.
“Since I’ve been out here it seems there’s been a great deal for me to talk about,” Cossack said. “So it’s not unusual for me to spend some time a couple days a week in the studio as well as teach. Just this morning I was supposed to go in and talk about (NBA referee) Tim Donaghy’s trial until we found out it was delayed.”
According to Preisler, it is Cossack’s confident and intelligent manner that makes him so viewer-friendly.
“He won’t just say the status quo,” Preisler said of the only legal analyst ESPN has ever had. “He says what he believes will happen or won’t happen, reads into the cases and analyzes everything into a great extent. He’s not afraid to go out on the limb.”
With five years of sports legal commentating behind him, Cossack is learning that athletes are getting in trouble not because of their actions, but because of their words.
“Barry Bonds is in trouble not because he used steroids, but because it’s alleged he lied to a grand jury about his use of steroids,” he said. “Marion Jones, again, got in trouble for lying about her use. You find it’s the cover-up that eventually comes to get them.
“We live in a time when communication and information is so pervasive. There are so many people out there who have pairs of eyes and cameras and access to the greatest publishing tool in the world — the Internet. It’s pretty difficult to keep a secret, and people are having to learn their lesson time after time.”
Cossack, who Preisler describes as an “all-around great guy who truly cares about everything,” is sharing his passion for law and legal commentary with his students.
“Professor Cossack is a fantastic professor,” said Veronica Glaze, a student in his Media and the Law class. “He is warm and goes out of his way to make himself available to his students. A couple weeks ago he even invited students to come visit him on the set as he filmed commentary for ESPN.”
Cossack’s career has led him to numerous courtrooms, including one in Eagle, Colo., for lengthy periods during an entire year to cover Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault case. Born in Boston and raised in Southern California, Cossack now splits time between his home in Georgetown, Virg., and Malibu while teaching.
Although he misses his family that consists of his son, daughter-in-law and 5 year-old grandson, who reside in Manassas, Virg., Cossack is fully enjoying the challenges presented in the classroom not found in the courtroom.
“Scott Fitzgerald once said there’s no second acts in America,” he said. “But I did get a second act. I got a chance to be a lawyer who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and have been on television hopefully serving an educational and entertainment purpose. Now I have this wonderful opportunity to talk with students.”
01-31-2008