Vol. 5 No. 28 | July 16, 2025
Courts
No published opinions this week.
- 2025 OK CR 8: REECE v. STATE OF OKLAHOMA
- 2025 OK CIV APP 23: MILLS et al. v. FUHRMANN et al.
- 2025 OK CIV APP 24: DUVALL v. EXPRESS EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS et al.
Dispositions Other than by Published Opinions
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma Court Calendar
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is in session year round, unless otherwise noted. The court regularly schedules conferences on Mondays and other days as needed.
Member Transitions
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The OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference begins today! There is still time to join us at the brand-new OKANA Resort in Oklahoma City for three days of learning, relaxing and making connections.
Join us this evening for the welcome reception at Exhibit C Gallery, sponsored by Oklahoma Attorneys Mutual Insurance Co. Tomorrow kicks off two full days of quality CLE opportunities covering topics for every lawyer. Walk-in registration will be available throughout the conference.
You can earn up to 12 hours of MCLE credit, including up to 2 hours of ethics for Oklahoma. The conference is worth 8.5 general and 1.5 ethics credits for Texas.
Submit Your Board of Governors and House of Delegates Information
Mark your calendars for this year's OBA Annual Meeting, Nov. 6-7 at the Sheraton Oklahoma City Downtown Hotel.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS VACANCIES
It's time to submit your nominating petitions for the OBA Board of Governors. The deadline for submitting nominating petitions for 2026 OBA leadership is Sept. 8. The Board of Governors is comprised of 17 active members of the Oklahoma Bar Association. One representative is elected for each of the nine Supreme Court judicial districts, as such districts existed prior to Jan. 1, 2020 [Order No. SCBD 4483 (2020 OK 17)], by lawyers in those respective districts, plus three statewide at-large members and the Young Lawyers Division chairperson. Officers are the president, vice president, president-elect and secretary/treasurer. You can view vacancy information here.
SUBMIT YOUR DELEGATES
It's also time to submit your local delegates to this year's House of Delegates, to be held Nov. 7 during the meeting. The deadline for submitting delegate certification forms is Sept. 1. In accordance with OBA bylaws, the House of Delegates shall be composed of one delegate or alternate from each county of the state, who shall be an active or senior member of the bar of such county. A PDF is available online with the count of members per county and the corresponding number of delegates and alternates allowed for each county.
Contact Mark Schneidewent at marks@okbar.org for more information.
vLex Fastcase is offering several trainings this fall, helping users get familiar with and learn how to navigate their platform. This platform offers efficient legal research and is a free OBA member benefit.
GENERAL OVERVIEW WEBINAR
This one-hour webinar gives an introduction to the platform, covering all features available to members.
- Aug. 12, noon CT: Register here
- Sept. 9, 1 p.m. CT: Register here
EFFICIENT SEARCHING WEBINAR
This 30-minute webinar offers targeted training focused on efficient search techniques in the vLex Fastcase platform.
- July 30, 1 p.m. CT: Register here
- Aug. 26, 1 p.m. CT: Register here
- Sept. 24, 2 p.m. CT: Register here
BAR JOURNAL ARTICLES
Submissions are now being accepted for numerous themed topics for the 2025 and 2026 issues of the Oklahoma Bar Journal. Editors are recruiting authors to write articles in the areas of trial by jury, ethics and professional responsibility, family law and more. Submission information is available online, and the editorial calendar will connect you with the specific editor for each topic. Contact OBA Communications Director Lori Rasmussen with questions.
THE BACK PAGE
We also want to feature your work on “The Back Page.” Your submissions – anything from short articles and poems to photography and artwork – may be featured. For details on submitting your work, visit the Oklahoma Bar Journal submissions page. Check out the editorial calendar for ideas on themes, though submissions don't have to be law related.
On July 29 and 30, law school graduates will be taking the bar exam at the Oklahoma Bar Center. To help boost morale, the OBA Young Lawyers Division will be assembling bar exam survival kits to pass out to examinees. Kits contain essentials like protein bars, earplugs, stress balls and aspirin.
As a reminder, all lawyers practicing 10 years or fewer, who are in good standing, are automatically part of the OBA Young Lawyers Division. Getting involved with the YLD gives you opportunities for leadership, networking and even paying it forward – helping prepare next year's survival kits!
Featured CLE
By OBA Practice Management Advisor Julie Bays
If you’ve ever spent a day avoiding that one tough task – such as drafting a complicated motion, responding to a sticky client issue or dealing with overdue billing – you’re not alone. But research consistently shows that putting off mentally taxing work increases stress and drains productivity. Lawyers, especially those in solo and small firm settings, often juggle a hundred things at once. Delaying the most cognitively demanding work can lead to rushed results, missed deadlines and burnout.
One time-tested productivity method is “eat the frog”, which encourages people to start their day by tackling the hardest, most important task first. By clearing your mental runway early, you free up time to focus on everything else and ensure critical work is done at your best.
For attorneys, this practice isn’t just about productivity, it’s about professional competence. Prioritizing high-stakes legal work early in the day can lead to more thoughtful legal analysis, clearer writing and better outcomes for clients.
Try this: Tomorrow morning, before you check email or open your browser, take 30 minutes to dive into the task you’ve been avoiding. Your future self and your clients will thank you.
If you’re not a morning person, use a different approach to carry out your tasks. Here is Mark C. Palmer’s article on "3 Time Management Strategies for Lawyers." Mr. Palmer is counsel for the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
The Oklahoma Bar Journal is a publication of the Oklahoma Bar Association. All rights reserved. Copyright© 2025 Oklahoma Bar Association. Statements or opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. Although advertising copy is reviewed, no endorsement of any product or service offered by any advertisement is intended or implied by publication. Advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their ads, and the OBA reserves the right to edit or reject any advertising copy for any reason. Legal articles carried in The Oklahoma Bar Journal are selected by the Board of Editors. Information about submissions can be found at www.okbar.org.