I, Cody Cofer, regularly present at Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars and serve as an adjunct professor at Texas A&M School of Law and Baylor University School of Law. Here you can find information and materials related to my lectures, writing, and presentations:
Texas A&M Externship Course
Serving as an adjunct professor for the Texas A&M University School of Law’s Criminal Law Externship Program has been one of the most rewarding parts of my professional life. Since 2021, I have had the privilege of teaching the course with Monroe Solomon and working with law students as they gain real-world experience in criminal law.
Our role is to provide the classroom and mentoring component of the externship for students working in criminal law offices throughout Tarrant County and the surrounding area. Their placements span both prosecution and defense and have included the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, and a number of criminal defense practices.
What I value most about the externship is the opportunity to help students connect what they learn in law school with what they are seeing and doing every day in practice. Criminal law presents difficult legal, ethical, and professional questions, and our classroom gives students a place to think through those issues, learn from one another’s experiences on both sides of the courtroom, and develop their own judgment about what it means to be a lawyer.
I am grateful to Texas A&M School of Law for the opportunity to be part of the program, and especially grateful for the students Monroe and I have had the chance to teach and mentor over the years. Watching them grow in confidence, judgment, and skill—and, in many cases, begin careers in criminal law—has made the experience especially meaningful.
Fall 2026 course information can be found HERE.
Upcoming Presentation or CLE
Lawyer Wellness: I’m Crazy, Too! Let’s Hang Out
August 27, 12:00-1:00PM
The legal profession asks us to carry other people’s problems for a living. We deal with conflict, trauma, enormous responsibility, difficult decisions, and the expectation that whatever is happening in our own lives, we will show up tomorrow ready to perform.
That takes a toll.
In an upcoming CLE, “Lawyer Wellness: I’m Crazy, Too! Let’s Hang Out — How to Take Care of Each Other and Ourselves,” I’ll talk candidly about lawyer mental health, secondary trauma, perfectionism, substance use, burnout, and the professional and ethical consequences that can follow when we ignore them. Research discussed in the program includes the sobering finding that nearly one in six lawyers surveyed reported experiencing suicidal thoughts during their careers.
But this program isn’t just about identifying problems. It’s about what we can actually do—for ourselves and for the lawyers around us.
That includes a simple idea called the “eight-minute pact”: creating relationships with people we trust where asking, “Do you have eight minutes?” is enough to say, I’m struggling. I don’t necessarily need you to fix anything. I just don’t want to be alone with it right now.
Read more about the CLE and why this conversation matters →
Speaking and Instructor Engagements
Wellness: I’m Crazy, Too. Let’s Hang Out! (MABA Tarrant) – Speaker 2026
Guest Lecturer: Domestic Violence Defense (SMU Law) – Lecturer 2026
Guns: Who Can Possess a Weapon & Other Issues (TCDLA Gumbo) – Speaker 2026
Course Number: 174300606
Closing Argument Punishment Talk (Baylor Bootcamp) – Speaker 2020-2025
Baylor Law Criminal Law Bootcamp – Faculty 2020-2025
Defense Plea Negotiations (CAIL) – Speaker 2025
Course Number: 174291332
2025 Caselaw Update with Biggs & Cofer (TCCDLA) – Speaker 2025
Course Number: 174287439
Conflicts of Interest (Ethics) (DCDLA) – Speaker 2025
Course Number: 174281888
Evolving Discovery Landscape in Criminal Cases (TCBA Bench Bar) – Speaker 2025
Course Number: 174276414
ACCA Again!? (STH Inn of Court) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174255172
Statistics on State Performed Ritualized Murder (TCCDLA Death Penalty) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174233334
Hearsay & Confrontation: Expert Witnesses (CAIL) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174238438
Crash Course: Federal Criminal Law (TCBA Criminal Law Section) – Director/Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174249814
Caselawsplainin with Biggs & Cofer (TCCDLA) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174248369
Preservation of Error (TCBA Bench Bar) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174230083
Jury Selection (TCDLA Ride of the Defense) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174226437
Brown Bag: Federal Practice (TCBA) – Speaker 2024
Course Number: 174229547
Domestic Violence Jury Selection (CAIL) – Speaker 2023
Course Number: 174205016
Brown Bag: Federal Practice (TCBA) – Speaker 2023
Course Number: 174188200
20th Criminal Defense Trial Skills & Trial Law Program (CAIL) – Faculty 2023
Course Number: 174206366
Jury Selection (Tarrant MABA) – Speaker 2023
Course Number: 174209044
Criminal Due Process Compare State and Federal Law (TCCDLA) – Speaker 2022
Course Number: 174180544
Punishment Talk: Defense (DCCDLA) – Speaker 2021
Course Number: 174125999
Federal Court Criminal Practice: The Basics (TCBA) – Speaker 2021
Han Gil Trial with Kara Carreras (FPD NDTX Annual) – Speaker 2021
Course Number: 174125787
Federal Court Criminal Practice: The Basics (TCBA) – Speaker 2021
Course Number: 174107501
Closing Argument Punishment Talk (Baylor Bootcamp) – Speaker 2020
Baylor Law Criminal Law Bootcamp Winter 2020 – Faculty 2020
Baylor Law Criminal Law Bootcamp Winter 2019 – Faculty 2019
Criminal Law Topics All of Our Clients Need to Know (TCBA) – Speaker 2019
Unintended Criminal Consequences of Civil Representation (TCBA) – Speaker 2019
Effective Closing Argument in Federal Cases (FPD) – Speaker 2017 & 2018
Social Media Defense Strategies (TCBA) – Speaker 2016
Crimmigration Seminar (TCBA) –Speaker 2016
Transition to Practice (TCBA) – Panel Member 2015-2016
Speed Mentoring (TCYLA) – Emcee 2015-2016
Strength Through Unity (TYLA) – Panel Member 2016
Evidence Bootcamp (CAIL) – Faculty 2014
Criminal Defense Advanced Trial Skills (CAIL) – Faculty 2014
