Vol. 5 No. 44 | Oct. 29, 2025
Courts
- 2025 OK CR 20: MITCHELL v. STATE OF OKLAHOMA
- 2025 OK CR 21: WATSON v. STATE
- 2025 OK CR 22: RODRIGUEZ v. STATE OF OKLAHOMA
No published opinions this week.
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 2025 OBA Annual Meeting is coming up next week! Today is the deadline to register to attend the Nov. 6 Annual Awards Luncheon and the Nov. 7 Delegates Breakfast. (Breakfast is complimentary for delegates, but you are asked to register to ensure meals are reserved.)
We hope to see you Nov. 6-7 at the Sheraton Oklahoma City Downtown Hotel for the 2025 OBA Annual Meeting! General meeting registration is not required.
"Despite the topic of immigration being hotly debated and argued, something on which the American public can agree is that a victim of abuse deserves protection and the opportunity to heal from the trauma. Unfortunately, many immigrants easily become victims of abuse and crimes due to their lack of resources and protection and fear of deportation. As a result, a unified Congress enacted various laws to provide immigration relief to such victims of abuse and crimes."
"Oklahoma members of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) actively participated in the commission’s 134th annual meeting, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in July. Judge Thad Balkman, Ryan Leonard, Laura McConnell Corbyn, Cheryl Plaxico, Sen. Brent Howard and Mark Ramsey attended the six-day meeting, where commissioners from across the nation gathered to consider uniform acts."
Struggling with time tracking, invoicing or reconciling your trust account? This CLE webinar will show you how to simplify your financial processes, stay ethical and avoid costly mistakes that lead to grievances and sanctions. Join attorney Jordan Turk and gain practical tools, templates and tech tips that make billing and trust accounting easier, faster and fully compliant.
You’ll learn how to:
- Avoid the most common billing and trust accounting errors
- Streamline time tracking, invoicing and trust accounting
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Strengthen your financial ethics and compliance
You will earn 1 hour of ethics MCLE credit and have the opportunity to learn more about Smokeball Bill, a trust and billing software that is a free OBA member benefit. Claim your free Smokeball Bill software here.
"As we look ahead to 2026, the Oklahoma Bar Association invites you to make a meaningful impact by joining one of our many volunteer committees. There’s no better time than the present to connect, contribute and grow. Join your fellow lawyers in serving on an OBA committee to help shape the future of the legal profession.
With more than 20 active committees to choose from, different opportunities and connections are waiting for you. Whatever your passion, there’s a committee that needs your voice and perspective. This is your chance to get involved with the OBA, meet new lawyers and make a difference in your community.
From promoting access to justice and legal education to supporting lawyers facing personal challenges, OBA committees are making a difference. You’ll also build your professional network and work on meaningful projects that align with your values.
Ready to get involved? Look at the committee list and sign up at www.okbar.org/committees/committee-sign-up. Appointments for 2026 will be made soon, so don’t wait!"
Featured CLE
By OBA Management Assistance Program Director Julie Bays
Starting Nov. 1, Oklahoma lawyers who accept credit cards will need to comply with new state law limits on the fees they charge clients for using them. While this isn’t a new issue for the profession, the rules are changing, and the new statute under Title 14A of the Oklahoma Consumer Credit Code now formally regulates what had previously been guided by a mix of interpretation and ethics.
A BRIEF HISTORY: WHEN "NO SURCHARGE" DIDN'T MEAN NO SURCHARGE
Before November 2025, Oklahoma’s Consumer Credit Code §2-211 prohibited merchants from imposing a surcharge on a cardholder who elected to use a credit or debit card instead of paying by cash, check or similar means. On its face, this meant that no businesses, including law firms, could pass along credit card processing fees.
However, in 2010, Attorney General W.A. Drew Edmondson issued AG Opinion 2010-OK-7, clarifying that this apparent “ban” applied only to consumer credit sale and not to all service transactions. The attorney general concluded that §2-417 (the parallel surcharge prohibition in the UCCC) was limited to consumer credit sales and did not govern professional service transactions such as attorney fees. In short, after 2010, Oklahoma lawyers could pass along processing costs, provided they did so reasonably and with the client’s advance agreement.
Lawyers were advised to disclose any such fee in their written fee agreements, consistent with Rule 1.5(a) of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct and its Comment 1, which allows a lawyer to “seek reimbursement for the cost of services performed in-house… or for other expenses incurred in-house… by charging a reasonable amount to which the client has agreed in advance.”
WHAT CHANGES ON NOV. 1
The Legislature has now codified and expanded these rules through Senate Bill 677 (2025), which repeals §2-417 and amends §2-211 of the Consumer Credit Code. The new statute makes two major changes: it expressly permits surcharges, but it also caps and regulates them.
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.