I am engaged in a general, civil trial and appellate practice in all courts in Oklahoma, statewide. My practice areas include business, commercial, oil and gas, securities, collections, bankruptcy and insolvency law, creditors rights, domestic relations and family law, real estate, corporations, limited liability companies, federal and state taxation, insurance, estate planning, probate and estate administration, health care law, administrative agency law, torts (including negligence, and personal and business injuries), taxing agencies, elder law and employment law.
I provide personal, one on one representation. I provide legal services through my own efforts as well as through law clerks and my association with other attorneys on an as needed basis. I recently relocated my Oklahoma County office thirteen miles North to the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, Oklahoma, and have established a Cherokee and Sequoyah county office between Cookson, Oklahoma and Vian, Oklahoma. For the past eighteen years I shared offices with eleven other attorneys, with paralegals and support staff, and was located across the street from the Oklahoma County Courthouse, and two blocks from the Federal and Bankruptcy Courthouses. My Oklahoma County Office is now only fifteen minutes North of those courts and ten minutes from the Oklahoma County Court Clerk's Office in Edmond. When my clients want to speak to me they have that opportunity; I return client phone calls.
History of the Firm and Current Operations I began practicing law in 1977 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Except for a brief period in 1979, I have maintained my main office in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. I have an additional office in the Cherokee and Sequoyah County area in Oklahoma (between Cookson, Oklahoma and Vian, Oklahoma) at beautiful Lake Tenkiller off Highway 82.
Initially I worked in a firm owned by others, and was involved in forming my first law firm in 1979. From 1979 to 1988 I practiced in professional corporations with others as shareholders. In 1988 I became the sole shareholder of the firm. From May 1990 until March 1, 2008, I shared offices with from ten to twelve other attorneys at the same location. I recently acquired the real estate for my Cherokee and Sequoyah County office and relocated my Oklahoma County office to its current location in Edmond, Oklahoma.
I generally handle and directly supervise all my cases, and use law clerks and will associate with other attorneys on an as needed basis. I have found this manner of practice provides greater flexibility, less conflicts, and direct, personal contact between my clients and me. Since 1989 I have had anywhere from zero to three attorneys and/or law clerks working with me at any particular time, and on an as needed basis.
Transactional Experience I have experience in oil and gas (leases, drilling, completion, production, income funds, purchase/sale), agriculture (cattle breeding, cattle feeding, embryo transplants), banking, real estate, formation operation and dissolution of various forms of businesses (individual/sole proprietor/self employed, partnership, corporations, joint ventures, limited liability companies, trusts), health care (including nursing home, medicare, medicaid), equipment sales and leasing, manufacturing, marinas, medical (physician) services, (banking personal services), education, construction, estate planning (including counseling, and preparation of documents), insurance, taxation, wills, trusts, advance directives and powers of attorney. I also have experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures (by cash, property exchange, spin offs, split offs), liquidations, and recapitalizations. My securities experience also includes original issue (exempt securities, exempt transactions and registrations), representation at administrative proceedings (including defense of enforcement actions), and litigation in receiverships and enforcement actions.
Litigation Experience
I have handled litigation in oil and gas matters including property ownership and title issues; rights at law and/or pursuant to contracts (including ownership, joint operating agreement issues including preferential rights to ownership, operator and operations issues), fiduciary duties, actual and constructive fraud, gas balancing, oil and gas sales, accounting issues, COPAS accounting issues, operations by less than all parties, agency issues, lien foreclosures (mechanics and materialmen, and operator liens), drainage, trespass, pollution, and lost hole.
I have handled litigation relating to contract issues including formation, interpretation, rescission, reformation, mistake, fraud (actual and constructive), performance, collection, accounting, breach, indemnification, promissory notes and mortgages, letters of credit, agency, fraudulent conveyances, lien foreclosures, prejudgment interest, attorneys fees and costs.
I have handled litigation involving torts including fraud (actual and constructive), deceit, trespass, intentional interference with business relations, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of duty (negligence), agency, intentional destruction of property.
I have handled litigation involving insurance issues including formation of the insurance contract, terms of the contract, coverage issues, computation of premium, payment/recovery of proceeds; and workers compensation issues including independent contractor, and self employed coverage issues, and litigation with the state insurance fund (now known as CompSource, Oklahoma).
I have handled litigation involving probate and estate administration issues, including validity and interpretation of wills (formal and holographic), administrations (intestate or without a will) accountings, operations of business pending administration of the estate, business and property sales, creditors rights and claims, payment of claims and distribution.
I have handled litigation in domestic relations and family law, including paternity, actual marriage, common law marriage, divorce and annulment, child custody, child support (including civil and criminal sanctions relating to failure to pay child support-I handled the first "dead beat dad" case under a then new federal statute,
United States of America v Steven F. Williams, CRS 99-385-LKK, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, with
Patricia Ann Counterman Frye vs Steve Williams, Case No. HC-91-8, Okmulgee County District Court, Henryetta, Oklahoma Division), child visitation, property division, prenuptial agreements.
I have handled litigation in bankruptcy court, primarily in the area of creditors rights, although I have some debtors experience in Chapter 11. I have represented clients in filing and litigation of claims, in litigation relating to plans of reorganization or liquidation, and in adversary proceedings regarding claims and relating to objections to discharge.
I have handled litigation in the United States Tax Court relating to tax issues including valuation issues, tax shelter litigation regarding administrative denial of deductions, credits and other tax items of significance.
I have handled litigation relating to Department of Public Safety licensure issues.
I have handled litigation relating to securities matters including the definition of a security, failure to register securities, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, agency, officer, director and other secondary liability, broker dealer registration and liability, and shareholder and management disputes.
I have experience in mediation and arbitration.
I have practiced in not less than 70 of the 77 county courts in Oklahoma; in the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals; and the Oklahoma Supreme Court. I have practiced in each of the three federal district courts in Oklahoma, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. I have practiced in each of the three bankruptcy district courts in Oklahoma. I have also practiced in the Cherokee Tribal Court, and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribal Court. I presently have eight cases reported in the various case reporter systems. Those cases are:
Tenneco Oil Company v. Richard D. Bogert, et al. 630 F.Supp. 961 (W.D. Oklahoma, 1986);
Peabody Coal Company v. State of Oklahoma ex rel Commissioners of the Land Office, 1992 Ok Civ App 83, 884 P.2d 857;
Texaco, Inc. v. Berry Petroleum Corporation et al, 869 F.Supp. 1523, 131 Oil & Gas Rep. 81 (W.D. Oklahoma, December 5, 1994);
Oklahoma Employers Safety Group, S.I.A. v. Colbert Nursing Home, Inc., 1997 OK 94, 954 P.2d 120;
In re Magnolia Gas Company, LLC et al. v. Compression Solutions Co., LLC, 255 B.R. 900 (United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Oklahoma, November 21, 2000);
Rose Group, LLC v. Brian R. Miller, et al, 2003 OK CIV APP 18 64 P.3d 573;
State of Oklahoma, ex rel. State Insurance Fund v. Great Plains Care Center, Inc., 2003 OK 79, 78 P.3d 83; Chesapeake
Exploration Limited Partnership v. Chesapeake Exploration Limited Partnership, Chesapeake Operating, Inc. and EXOK, Inc., 2004 OK CIV APP 94, 103 P.3d 621.
I have represented clients located in the state of Oklahoma, out of state clients, and international clients. I have also served as local counsel for in and out of state clients and attorneys.