Cara Cookson, J.D. is a crime victim rights advocate and consultant who teaches courses in the Restorative Justice Program, as well as the General Practice Program, at VLS. Cara currently serves as the Victim Witness Advocate Coordinator for the Maine Office of the Attorney General, where she is responsible for training, technical assistance, stakeholder engagement, and policy analysis for prosecution-based victim service professionals statewide. Cara also served as Policy Director for the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services, where she advocated for victim rights in the Vermont statehouse and provided legal consultation and technical assistance for victim service professionals, prosecutors, and criminal justice stakeholders. Cara has represented individual and business clients as a general practice litigator, served as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, and worked as a U.S. Senate aide to the late Senator James M. Jeffords (I-VT). In 2014, Cara edited the Vermont Bar Association Family Law Section's revision of the Vermont Family Law Practice Manual. She serves on the Vermont Supreme Court's Character and Fitness Committee and a Vermont Professional Responsibility Board hearing panel.

Cara earned an A.B. cum laude at Mount Holyoke College in 2004; and a J.D. summa cum laude at Vermont Law School in 2010.

Cara’s expertise lies in Victim Rights Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, Domestic Violence, Trauma-Informed Practice.

Cara lives with her family in Portland, Maine.