List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Oklahoma

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This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Oklahoma. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are men who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Contents

Firsts in state history

Lawyers

State judges

Federal judges

Assistant Attorney General

Political Office

Firsts in local history

See also

Other topics of interest

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian P. Opala</span> American judge

Marian Peter Opala was a Polish-American lawyer and jurist who served as a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court from 1978 to 2010. Opala was appointed to the state's highest court in 1978 by Governor David Boren. Prior to his appointment as a Supreme Court Justice, Opala served the State of Oklahoma in various positions, including Assistant County Attorney for Oklahoma County, Administrative Director of the Oklahoma State Court System, and as a judge on the Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Court.

Tom Colbert is a former Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He was appointed to the Court's District 6 seat in 2004, by Governor Brad Henry, becoming the first African-American to serve on the court. On January 4, 2013, he was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and served In that post until January 2015. After completing his two-year term as Chief Justice, he resumed his previous position on the court as Associate Justice representing the 6th Judicial District. On January 19, 2021, Colbert’s retirement was announced by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, effective February 1 of the same year.

William LaFortune is an American politician who served as the 37th Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 2002 to 2006 and is currently a district judge in Tulsa County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judiciary of Oklahoma</span>

The Oklahoma Court System is the judicial system for the U.S. State of Oklahoma. Based in Oklahoma City, the court system is a unified state court system that functions under the Chief Justice of Oklahoma who is its administrator-in-chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jari Askins</span> American politician

Jari Askins is an American judge, lawyer, and Democratic politician from the state of Oklahoma. She was the 15th lieutenant governor of Oklahoma, being the second woman and the first female Democrat to hold that position.

Linda Morrissey is a Tulsa County district judge. During her time as a judge, Morrissey has influenced the addition of the first courtroom in Tulsa County that dealt strictly with child support, as well as the Families in Transition Plan that removes disputing families from the courtroom and gives them an audience with mediators. In 2003, Morrissey was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame for her contributions to the Tulsa County judicial system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alma Wilson</span> American judge

Alma Dorothy Bell Wilson was an Oklahoma attorney who was appointed as the second female district judge in the state of Oklahoma in 1975. In 1982, she was elevated as the first woman to serve on the Oklahoma Supreme Court and between 1995 and 1997 was the first woman chief justice. Wilson was honored by many awards in her lifetime including induction into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and was named Appellate Judge of the Year in both 1986 and 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Wyrick</span> American judge (born 1981)

Patrick Robert Wyrick is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma and a former Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Hall Estill is an American law firm headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma with additional offices in Oklahoma City, Northwest Arkansas, and Denver, Colorado. Hall Estill ranks among the 400 largest U.S. law firms by domestic attorney headcount. In 2015, Law360 recognized Hall Estill for having the fourth-highest percentage of minority partners among America's large and mid-size law firms and named the firm as one of the "50 Best Firms for Minority Partners."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John M. O'Connor</span> American lawyer (born 1954)

John Michael O'Connor is an American attorney and politician who served as the 19th attorney general of Oklahoma between 2021 and 2023. O’Connor was previously a shareholder of Hall Estill and a nominee to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Don Barnes (1924–2011) was a long-time attorney and judge in Oklahoma. Born in Tulsa, he first became a judge in 1954, when he was elected superior court judge in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He was given the nickname "The Praying Judge," because he began each court session over which he presided with a prayer. In 1972, Oklahoma Governor David Hall appointed him as an associate justice of the state supreme court. Barnes remained on the court until he retired as chief justice in January 1985.

Dana Lynn Kuehn is an American attorney and judge from Tulsa, Oklahoma who has served on the Supreme Court of Oklahoma since 2021; she was appointed by Governor Kevin Stitt on July 26, 2021. Kuehn had previously been an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Judge after her appointment by the Governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin on October 2, 2017. Kuehn is the first woman to serve on both of the state's high courts, the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buck Colbert Franklin</span> African American lawyer (1879–1960)

Buck Colbert Franklin was an African American lawyer best known for defending survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.

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