Volume 95 — No. 7 — September 2024 Women in Law ALSO INSIDE: Women in Law Conference 2024 Mona Salyer Lambird Spotlight Award Winners Texting for the Win: Using Text Messages in Family Law Trials The Last Resort: Title 30 Adult Guardianship
Join the CLE Performer as he talks about lawyer stress, substance abuse and the importance of resilience in the practice of law. Whether it’s dealing with high-pressure situations or the need to make critical split decisions, there are a lot of similarities between lawyers, race car drivers and fighter pilots. And there are some critical mental health lessons that lawyers can learn from those two vocations. Stuart I. Teicher is a professional educator who focuses on ethics law and writing instruction. A practicing attorney for 30 years, Mr. Teicher’s career is now dedicated to helping fellow attorneys survive the practice of law and thrive in the profession. He also helps all professionals navigate the areas of anti-corruption regulations and corporate compliance issues, as well as improving their writing skills. Mr. Teicher teaches seminars; provides training to law firms, legal departments and businesses; provides CLE instruction at law firm client events; and gives keynote speeches at conventions and association meetings. His highly informative seminars are delivered in a uniquely entertaining manner, earning him the nickname “the CLE Performer.”
PLUS 50 Women in Law Conference 52 2024 Mona Salyer Lambird Spotlight Award Winners 56 Texting for the Win: Using Text Messages in Family Law Trials By M. Shane Henry and Ashley D. Rahill 62 The Last Resort: Title 30 Adult Guardianship By Melissa Brooks 66 Annual Meeting Highlights THEME: Women in Law Editor: Melissa DeLacerda FEATURES 6 Women in Law DEPARTMENTS 4 From the President 76 From the Executive Director 78 Law Practice Tips 82 Ethics & Professional Responsibility 84 Board of Governors Actions 94 Oklahoma Bar Foundation News 98 Young Lawyers Division 102 For Your Information 104 Bench & Bar Briefs 108 In Memoriam 115 Editorial Calendar 120 The Back Page contents September 2024 • Vol. 95 • No. 7 PAGE 56 – Texting for the Win: Using Text Messages in Family Law Trials PAGE 62 – The Last Resort: Title 30 Adult Guardianship On the Cover: “Leading the Way” by Greg Burns This original lithograph was commissioned by the OBA in 2003 to accompany the book Leading the Way: A Look at Oklahoma’s Pioneering Women in Law, published by the Oklahoma Bar Association in conjunction with the 2004 OBA centennial celebration.
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 4 | SEPTEMBER 2024 After being persuaded by her future husband, Lynn Pringle, to move to Oklahoma City, she worked as in-house counsel for the First National Bank downtown. She eventually became general counsel and a lobbyist for the Oklahoma Bankers Association and was instrumental in the passage of several laws, including changing bank branching laws in Oklahoma. In 1988, she and Lynn founded their own firm, Pringle & Pringle PC. Her practice centered around community banks and helping them navigate an ever-changing (and growing) regulatory environment. She and Lynn founded a publishing company that developed policies and procedures for financial institutions that were distributed nationwide. Growing up, I got to take many fun trips because my mother had been hired by a bank to help them work through complex issues. A TRAILBLAZER IS A PERSON WHO “BLAZES a trail” through uncharted territory and shows that it is possible for other people to follow. There have been many women trailblazers in the Oklahoma legal profession. Minerva K. Elliott Lentz was the first woman to pass the Oklahoma Territory Bar (1893). Almost 100 years later, Justice Alma Wilson was the first woman to serve on the Oklahoma Supreme Court (1982). Mona Salyer Lambird was the first woman to serve as president of the Oklahoma Bar Association (1996). Susan Loving was the first and only woman Oklahoma attorney general (1991). Much of this history is well documented in an article co-authored by past OBA President Melissa Delacerda and Patsy Trotter, “Oklahoma’s Women Lawyers” in the Oklahoma Women’s Almanac (2002). This month’s bar journal topic, “Women in Law,” provides the opportunity to highlight women attorneys who have made a difference in the practice of law in Oklahoma. At this time, I would like to use my presidential prerogative to highlight another woman attorney who has made a tremendous difference – my mother, Laura Pringle. Laura grew up in Clinton, Iowa, along the Mississippi River, where her father was an attorney and Presbyterian minister. Scholarship, hard work and faith were very important aspects of her upbringing. Following college, Laura went to law school at the University of Iowa (finishing her work at Emory University). Few women attended law school at that time, and the University of Iowa had just hired its first female law professor in 1973, the year before Laura’s arrival. Despite few female examples and role models, Laura blazed a path for a successful legal career. Laura began at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in Atlanta. From the Son of a Trailblazer From The President By Miles Pringle Miles Pringle is executive vice president and general counsel at The Bankers Bank in Oklahoma City. 405-848-8877 mpringle@tbb.bank (continued on page 97) From left Miles' parents, Lynn and Laura Pringle, President Miles Pringle and his wife, Andrea Pringle
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 5 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL JOURNAL STAFF JANET K. JOHNSON Editor-in-Chief janetj@okbar.org LORI RASMUSSEN Managing Editor lorir@okbar.org EMILY BUCHANAN HART Assistant Editor emilyh@okbar.org LAUREN DAVIS Advertising Manager advertising@okbar.org HAILEY BOYD Communications Specialist haileyb@okbar.org Volume 95 — No. 7 — September 2024 MILES PRINGLE, President, Oklahoma City; D. KENYON WILLIAMS JR., President-Elect, Sperry; AMBER PECKIO, Vice President, Tulsa; BRIAN T. HERMANSON, Immediate Past President, Ponca City; ANGELA AILLES BAHM, Oklahoma City; JOHN E. BARBUSH, Durant; S. SHEA BRACKEN, Edmond; DUSTIN E. CONNER, Enid; ALLYSON E. DOW, Norman; PHILIP D. HIXON, Tulsa; JANA L. KNOTT, El Reno; CHAD A. LOCKE, Muskogee; WILLIAM LADD OLDFIELD, Ponca City; TIMOTHY L. ROGERS, Tulsa; NICHOLAS E. THURMAN, Ada; JEFF D. TREVILLION, Oklahoma City; LAURA R. TALBERT, Chairperson, OBA Young Lawyers Division, Oklahoma City The Oklahoma Bar Journal (ISSN 0030-1655) is published monthly, except July and August, by the Oklahoma Bar Association, 1901 N. Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, Okla. and at additional mailing offices. Subscriptions $75 per year. Law students registered with the OBA and senior members may subscribe for $40; all active members included in dues. Single copies: $7.50 Postmaster Send address changes to the Oklahoma Bar Association, P.O. Box 53036, Oklahoma City, OK 73152-3036. THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL is a publication of the Oklahoma Bar Association. All rights reserved. Copyright© 2024 Oklahoma Bar Association. Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. BAR CENTER STAFF Janet K. Johnson, Executive Director; Gina L. Hendryx, General Counsel; Chris Brumit, Director of Administration; Jim Calloway, Director of Management Assistance Program; Beverly Petry Lewis, Administrator MCLE Commission; Gigi McCormick, Director of Educational Programs; Lori Rasmussen, Director of Communications; Richard Stevens, Ethics Counsel; Robbin Watson, Director of Information Technology; John Morris Williams, Executive Director Emeritus; Julie A. Bays, Practice Management Advisor; Loraine Dillinder Farabow, Jana Harris, Tracy Pierce Nester, Katherine Ogden, Steve Sullins, Assistant General Counsels Barbara Acosta, Taylor Anderson, Les Arnold, Allison Beahan, Gary Berger, Hailey Boyd, Cassie Brickman, Cheryl Corey, Lauren Davis, Nickie Day, Ben Douglas, Melody Florence, Matt Gayle, Emily Buchanan Hart, Suzi Hendrix, Jamie Jagosh, Debra Jenkins, Rhonda Langley, Durrel Lattimore, Brian Martin, Renee Montgomery, Jaycee Moseley, Tracy Sanders, Mark Schneidewent, Ben Stokes, Krystal Willis, Laura Willis & Roberta Yarbrough Oklahoma Bar Association 405-416-7000 Toll Free 800-522-8065 FAX 405-416-7001 Continuing Legal Education 405-416-7029 Ethics Counsel 405-416-7055 General Counsel 405-416-7007 Lawyers Helping Lawyers 800-364-7886 Mgmt. Assistance Program 405-416-7008 Mandatory CLE 405-416-7009 Board of Bar Examiners 405-416-7075 Oklahoma Bar Foundation 405-416-7070 www.okbar.org OFFICERS & BOARD OF GOVERNORS BOARD OF EDITORS MELISSA DELACERDA, Stillwater, Chair BECKY R. BAIRD, Miami MARTHA RUPP CARTER, Tulsa NORMA G. COSSIO, Enid MELANIE WILSON RUGHANI, Oklahoma City SHEILA A. SOUTHARD, Ada EVAN A. TAYLOR, Norman ROY TUCKER, Muskogee MAGDALENA A. WAY, El Reno DAVID E. YOUNGBLOOD, Atoka
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 7 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Women in Law Reflections on Leading the Way By Melissa DeLacerda IN 2003, WE PUBLISHED THE BOOK Leading the Way: A Look at Oklahoma’s Pioneering Women Lawyers. At the time that book was published, only two women had served as OBA presidents (the first, not until 1996), and two women had been members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court throughout the OBA’s history. Now, a little more than 20 years later, we have had six additional OBA presidents who are women. For the first time, the number of female law school students is equal to, or more than, the number of male students enrolled, and the number of women lawyers who are associates in large firms is equal to the number of male associates. The exponential growth of women in the legal field in the past century is a remarkable accomplishment. The notable women attorneys featured in this issue broke barriers, gained the respect of their male counterparts and clients and highlighted the importance of diverse perspectives in the legal field. It is important that we continue the momentum, expanding the roles women hold in the legal field, allowing today’s women lawyers to continue carrying the torch that the women before us held. We dedicate this month’s publication to Oklahoma’s pioneering women lawyers. This issue of the Oklahoma Bar Journal serves to remind us, to inspire us and to honor those notable women who tread bravely into a world where a path for them – and others – didn’t yet exist. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Melissa DeLacerda is an OBA past president (2003) and the current chair of the Oklahoma Bar Journal Board of Editors. Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. The 2024 Golden Gavel Award was presented to the Oklahoma Bar Journal Board of Editors at the Annual Meeting in July. Accepting the award from President Miles Pringle was Chairperson Melissa DeLacerda of Stillwater along with associate editors Evan Taylor of Norman and Norma Cossio of Enid. The award is presented annually to the outstanding OBA committee or group.
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 8 | SEPTEMBER 2024 Women in Law Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. Introduction By Retired Judge Stephanie K. Seymour IN 1898, LAURA LYKINS WAS THE ONLY WOMAN LAWYER IN INDIAN TERRITORY.1 In 1930, Grace Elmore Gibson was a lawyer and a part-time judge before she had the right to serve on a jury. By 2002, women made up approximately a quarter of the active Oklahoma bar.2 In the first century of women practicing law in Oklahoma, there were many advances, and we reached many milestones. It is important for us to look back and remember what these pioneering women accomplished so that we may learn from their vision and perseverance as well as appreciate their achievements. My young law clerks were often surprised to hear about what it was like in “the old days” – by which they meant, of course, the 1970s – and to contemplate a professional world in a reality so recent but so startlingly different from what they saw in their law school and law firm experiences at the beginning of the 21st century. It is important that new generations discover the past and remember that they are only in the middle, not at the end, of the journey begun by a handful of amazing women in the late 19th century. They must learn to emulate the women they will read about in this journal and to continue their work, for there are many battles yet to fight. This is not a new sentiment. In 1894, Susan B. Anthony wrote: We shall someday be heeded, and when we shall have our amendment, everybody will think it was always so, just exactly as many young people believe that all the privileges, all the freedoms, all the enjoyments which women now possess always were hers. They have no idea of how every single inch of ground that she stands upon today has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past.3 This journal tells a wonderful set of stories. They are the stories of Oklahoma women who fought for every single inch of ground we stand on today. These are women of character who made great strides in difficult times. For example, in Oklahoma Territory in 1890, a law was enacted that stated: “The husband is the head of the family. He may choose any reasonable place or mode of living and the wife must conform thereto.” Amazingly, this law is still on the books.4 Although a 1986 attorney general advisory opinion found the statute unconstitutional, and although it has come before the Oklahoma Supreme Court more than once, the law remains.5 When the Oklahoma Constitution passed, it was considered a very progressive one, but even so, it left many battles for the women of the state to fight. It was not until 1918 that State Question 97 passed by 25,000 votes, allowing women to vote. It was not until 1942 that a woman could hold state office. It was not until 1951 that Oklahoma afforded women the right to serve on juries. Only when federal law required it in 1974 did Oklahoma allow a wife to sue for loss of consortium. In 1924, Bertha Rembaugh wrote an essay on the topic of “Women in the Law” for the first issue of the New York University Law Review. She wrote: [I]s there a subject? Is there anything to say about women in the law, or women in relation to the practice of law, any more or different than there is to say of men in the law? One’s first and immediate reaction is, of course, that there is not; that the relation
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 9 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL of the individual woman practitioner to the law is the relation of an individual rather than of a member of a class; that there are no generalizations to be made about the woman lawyer as such.6 She went on to catalog the problems, challenges, achievements and general progress of women in the law and concluded with this thought: “As far as I know there is no woman general counsel for a railroad or an oil company ... When there is – as there will be – my subject will have completely ceased to exist.”7 She was perhaps a bit ahead of her time but sadly also a bit over-optimistic. In 1961, the year before I started law school, only 316 women graduated from law school out of 11,220 graduating students.8 There were three women sitting on the federal bench, the only three that had ever been appointed to that position.9 In my law school class in 1962, I was one of 23 women out of 580 students. There were no women law professors, and one of the professors refused to call on women except once per semester when he conducted “ladies’ day” and called only on the women students. When I began practicing law in 1965, I only knew of eight other women who were then in the practice of law in Tulsa. At the Tulsa County Bar picnic that summer, the entertainment after dinner was a stripper! The face of the legal profession in Oklahoma and across the United States has changed dramatically in the years since I became a lawyer. In 1965, for example, no women graduated from the OU College of Law. Likewise, neither OUC nor TU has any record of a female law graduate that year. In the 1970s, women began attending law schools in much greater numbers. Now, more than 50% of law students across the country are female.10 In 1996, when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came to speak at the Women in Law Conference in Tulsa, Roberta Cooper Ramo had just become the first woman president of the American Bar Association, Mona Salyer Lambird was the first woman president of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Millie Otey was immediate past president of the Tulsa County Bar Association, I was the first woman chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and Justice Yvonne Kauger was about to become the second woman chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. There are still barriers to overcome. Those that lie ahead are in some ways more pernicious and, consequently, perhaps more difficult to take on. For example, we now see the persistence of the so-called “mommy track.” So despite the great hopes of Bertha Rembaugh, the subject of women in the law does still exist. The Oklahoma Bar Association celebrates that subject in this journal. Note: This introduction was originally published in the 2003 book Leading the Way: A Look at Oklahoma’s Pioneering Women Lawyers. It has been slightly modified with Judge Seymour’s permission for republication in this issue of the Oklahoma Bar Journal. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stephanie K. Seymour was the first female judge appointed to the 10th Circuit U.S. Appeals Court in 1979. She served as chief judge from 1994 until 2000. ENDNOTES 1. K. Morello, The Invisible Bar: The Woman Lawyer in America: 1638 to the Present, 2-38 (1986). 2. “2002 Oklahoma Bar Association Membership Survey Report,” 73 OBJ 3402 (Dec. 7, 2002). 3. History of Women’s Suffrage 233 (E. Stanton, S. Anthony, M. Gage and I. Harper, eds. 1981-1922). 4. Okla. Stat. tit. 32, §2. 5. Janice P. Dreiling, “Women and Oklahoma Law: How It Has Changed, Who Changed It, and What is Left,” 40 Oklahoma Law Review. 417, 418 (1987). 6. Bertha Rembaugh, “Women in the Law,” 1 NYU Law Review, 19, 19-20 (1924). 7. Id. at 23. 8. Stephen G. Breyer, Foreword to Judith Richards Hope, Pinstripes & Pearls, at xxiii (2003). 9. Id. at xix. 10. American Bar Association, Legal Education and Bar Admission Statistics, 1963-2003, available at www.abanet.org. Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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.
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 10 | SEPTEMBER 2024 Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. Women in Law Mirabeau Cole Looney MIRABEAU LAMAR COLE LOONEY WAS BORN JAN. 16, 1871, in Talladega County, Alabama, to William Isaac Cole – a Gatesville, Texas, lawyer – and Martha (Mattie) Ann Nixon.1 She was named after Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the sovereign Republic of Texas.2 It is believed the Cole family moved to Robertson County, Texas, around 1880 because the census from that year shows a Lamar Cole living on a farm with her mother; her brothers; her mother’s brother, William A. Nixon; and her grandmother, Talitha Walston Nixon.3 Ms. Looney’s interest in the law surfaced early in her life, and she could often be found reading her father’s tan calf law books or fictional accounts of trials. Paralleling her interest in the law was her interest in civil government and history – interests that would serve her well in later years.4 In 1891, she married “Doc” Tourney Looney in Texas. Shortly thereafter, the young couple crossed over the Oklahoma line into the future Greer/Harmon County in the southwestern part of Oklahoma Territory and settled in what would later become the Looney community, named after the family.5 The Looneys filed for a 160-acre homestead in December 1897 in Greer County, where they would begin their family6 and where Doc Looney would become one of the earliest postmasters in the new area.7 While still a young man, Doc Looney died, leaving his wife with five children under the age of 10 to raise alone.8 It is not known whether she sold the family farm or just left the land, but the patent was canceled by ruling on June 21, 1900.9 To put food on the table, she taught music for a year and then saw the opportunities inherent in becoming a landowner. She filed a claim on a quarter section of government land one mile from Hollis, traded her organ for a team of mules and set about building a sod house on the hard-baked prairie soil.10 With courage of the “chilled steel variety” and “fires of determination glinting in her blue eyes,” Ms. Looney started digging her own dugout.11 The basement home where the family lived for the first year was four feet deep and lined with boards that stood on end and capped with a shingle roof.12 Once the home was complete, Ms. Looney drove her mule team 13 miles to the Red River, where she cut the posts that would form a fence around her quarter section of land. If the posts were too heavy for her to lift into the wagon, they were dragged by a mule onto the wagon. Part of the fence built by Ms. Looney was still standing in 1921.13 She planted her first crop of 20 acres in blowing sand with her 10-year-old son holding on to and guiding the plow handles while she drove the mule team.14 After the children were in bed that first night, Ms. Looney went outside and walked around the new sod house in the moonlight and would later say, “Nothing I have ever lived in since has seemed so grand as that place did that night.”15 The next day, before going to El Dorado to buy a windmill, she traded two of their 12 cattle and gave notes for an organ. Once the sod house was finished and the crop was in, Ms. Looney would again teach music lessons. With the money from those lessons and the crop, she purchased a two-room frame shack that she had moved to the farm. As she would later say, “We never felt richer than when we settled in our two-room house, with a new organ to take the place of the old one, and a windmill to
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 11 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. lighten the labor of drawing water for the stock.”16 The family lived and worked on the farm for five years, the amount of time required to prove their claim, and received the land patent on March 29, 1906.17 After the five years were up, Ms. Looney moved the family to Hollis so that the children could attend better schools. In 1912, Ms. Looney was elected registrar of deeds for Harmon County, the “first of a series of political triumphs that ... distinguished her as one of the state’s most successful women politicians.”18 Completing her term, she was twice elected treasurer of her county19 and, in 1916, was elected Harmon County clerk for two terms.20 Since Ms. Looney maintained that she was a staunch Democrat but not a politician, a group of her friends got together to discuss her entrance into the Oklahoma Senate race and, believing that she could win, encouraged her to enter the race. Her friends then went to Mangum to discuss the plan with the “boys,” finally convincing them that a woman could serve in the Legislature.21 In 1920, Ms. Looney entered the Democratic primary as a candidate for state senator.22 Since she had not finished her term as county clerk when the campaign for the Senate seat started, she told everyone she was “paying strict attention to being county clerk.”23 She continued by saying, “I refuse to slacken or neglect anything. My books shall be turned over in perfect order.”24 During her Senate campaign, one of her supporters was asked, “Aren’t you afraid to match a woman against the politicians in the Senate?” The supporter smiled and replied, “They won’t get anything by her.”25 Ms. Looney campaigned only in Greer County, covering the county in her own car, and had campaign expenditures totaling $149.80.26 Ms. Looney, elected as a Democrat from the 4th Senatorial District for Harmon and Greer counties, not only carried her own Harmon County 3-1, but she also carried her opponent’s county 2-1. Thus, she was seated the first woman in the Oklahoma Legislature.27 She maintained the distinction of being the only woman to be in the state Senate until 1975.28 Her daughter, Mabel Looney Parks, remembers going door-to-door seeking votes for her mother and recalls the comments of several men regarding the election. “Ms. Looney, I know you are a capable lady, but I believe a woman’s place is in the home.” Her response was, “Eating what?”29 On Jan. 4, 1921, Ms. Looney took her seat in the Oklahoma Senate, wearing a “smart brown suit and a brown hat, draped with a bit of lace veil.” In an interview, she said, “There is nothing extraordinary about me.”30 But none who knew of her past would agree with that statement. The new senator had a “chain-lightning mind of a type essentially masculine,” idealistically practical31 and was a surprise to her fellow senators. One senator said: “It is easy to prophesy that she will prove a ‘good sport,’ cooperate well, work hard, realize her mistakes with a smile – and never weep. She has a good chance of becoming a ‘fixture’ in the Senate since she has a political future in mind and has in the past pleased her constituents.”32 At the time of her election to the Senate in 1921, Ms. Looney expected to be admitted to the bar within the year, but she was not admitted until Dec. 10, 1923.33 Her application, number 2139, was by motion directly to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and her admission was granted by Chief Justice J. T. Johnson. She was 52 when she was admitted to the bar.34
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 12 | SEPTEMBER 2024 Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. While serving in the Oklahoma Senate, Ms. Looney was chairman of the State and County Affairs Committee, the Prohibition Enforcement Committee and the Agriculture Committee.35 She also served on the Education, Hospitals and Charities, Penal Institutions, Public Service Corporations and Roads and Highways committees.36 In 1926, after serving three terms in the state Senate, she considered running for lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. Investigating the possibility of winning that election, she decided the courts would sustain the Oklahoma constitutional requirement that a man hold the office, and she abandoned the race. Realizing that Oklahoma courts and lawmakers had no control over federal offices and there were no limitations based on sex, she shocked the political establishment by announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.37 Her campaign slogan was, “Let Oklahoma be first and elect one of her qualified and legislative tried women to the U.S. Senate.”38 Although she was indeed a proven legislator, the newspapers wrote varied comments about her race. “The men of the Democratic Party organization are talking now of trying to get two of the three male candidates to withdraw from the race for U.S. Senator; otherwise they say Ms. Looney may walk away with the nomination.”39 “Ms. Lamar Looney’s senatorial aspirations are unlikely to take her to Washington. However this sojourn on the sidelines has taught us that a woman is unlikely to be chosen for any place for which men clamor.”40 Positive comments also appeared in some papers. “Ms. Looney won respect for her political acumen and legislative judgment while she served in the state Senate. She is not an exponent of freakish measures and her friends say she would grace the U.S. Senate.”41 “A political observer says to the credit of Ms. Lamar Looney, senatorial aspirant, that she never asks for favors on the grounds that she is a poor defenseless women; which suits us pretty well. Whether a candidate is man or woman has little bearing on fitness for parliamentary positions. Sex does not determine one’s knowledge of governmental affairs.”42 After losing her bid for a spot on the ticket for the U.S. Senate, Ms. Looney ran and won her fourth and final term in the Oklahoma Senate in 1927.43 During her four terms in the Senate, Ms. Looney championed farmers and their need for more roads between cities and counties. Education and schools were also of particular interest to her, and she stood fast in the belief that each district should have the option to vote in favor of enough tax to ensure good schools in the district, with better equipment and instruction. She was interested in making government more efficient and went so far as to suggest that the number of representatives and senators in the state Legislature be reduced and the costs of government should be reduced by 50%. She was for prohibition, the World Court and the League of Nations. She favored the universal draft, conscription of wealth and property, and manpower.44 She also believed that Oklahoma held possibilities for vast industrial development and encouraged the offer of inducements to industries.45 Ms. Looney also wanted laws protecting working women and children, along with ways to ensure their strict enforcement.46 Although she believed in a generous policy with soldiers, she said she believed as William Tecumseh Sherman did on the issue of war, “We should exhaust all diplomatic and legal means of avoiding it and then, if we can avoid it only at the cost of honor.”47 She did believe in the enforcement of the payment of war debts but “was not in favor of playing Santa Claus to the foreign nations.”48 Her concern for the elderly was seen in her belief that their homes should be exempt from taxation.49 In the financial arena, ‘She had an unusually high conception of the duties of a legislator and she served her people with a fidelity that never faltered or weakened. Oklahoma has never had a public servant who tried harder to serve the people well.’
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 13 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. she thought we needed a different system of money and wanted the government to strike more money and do away with the Federal Reserve System.50 She wanted the government to provide 20-year home mortgages at 2% or 3%.51 Perhaps because it was an issue when she tried to run for lieutenant governor, but likely because she also championed women’s rights, Ms. Looney pushed for legislation that would allow women to serve in state offices.52 Although the constitutional amendment was not adopted during her lifetime, Ms. Looney was instrumental in starting the drive to get women qualified for all state elective offices.53 After two failed attempts to have the Constitution amended, in a 1942 general election, SQ 302 was adopted, which allowed women to run for state offices.54 She was also actively involved in the campaign giving women the right to vote.55 During her years as a senator, when the Senate was not in session, Ms. Looney worked for Co-Operative Publishing Co. of Guthrie as a traveling salesman of books and supplies used in public offices.56 Mirabeau Lamar Cole Looney died Sept. 3, 1935, and the flags flew at half-staff over the state Capitol in her honor. Her casket was placed in state in the Capitol rotunda.57 She was honored posthumously at the annual statehood dinner of the Oklahoma Memorial Association on Nov. 16, 1935, along with Wiley Post and Will Rogers.58 At the dinner, Camille Nixdorf Phelan's Oklahoma History Quilt was presented to the Oklahoma Historical Society with a panel depicting Ms. Looney as one of Oklahoma’s prominent women.59 The quilt still hangs at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Perhaps words from a Daily Oklahoman editorial best describe Ms. Looney: It is those who served with Ms. Lamar Looney in the Oklahoma Senate who can render the truest testimony to her complete devotion to the public interest. She had an unusually high conception of the duties of a legislator and she served her people with a fidelity that never faltered or weakened. Oklahoma has never had a public servant who tried harder to serve the people well. She was never soiled by the sordid political currents which have soiled so many political officials. She was a womanly woman when she entered official life, and she was a womanly woman when she cast off her official cares. She was sufficient answer to the current assertion that a really fine woman had better let politics severely alone. Women who enter politics should study well the high example set by Ms. Looney.60 After caring for and educating her children and watching them leave home, Ms. Looney once said, “I have time now to set a stone rolling for the good of humanity, if I can.”61 And that she did. ENDNOTES Individual Sources: Clarence Wharton Cole Mabel Looney Park Patricia Sellers Dennis 1. Clarence Wharton Cole, nephew of Lamar Looney, information furnished to author by Patricia Sellers Dennis, great-granddaughter of Lamar Looney, June 27, 2002. 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Id. 5. Mabel Looney Park, daughter of Lamar Looney, information furnished to author by Ms. Dennis, June 27, 2002. 6. Cole. 7. Park. 8. Id. 9. Cole. 10. “Hollis Woman First Ever to Sit in Senate Hearing Impeachment Charges against a Governor,” The Daily Oklahoman, Oct. 9, 1923, pg. 1. 11. Vivian V. Sturgeon, “Clerk of Harmon County Wins Senate Seat and Plans Political Future,” The Daily Oklahoman, Dec. 5, 1920, pg. 1. 12. Cole. 13. Id. 14. Sturgeon. 15. Cole. 16. Id. 17. Id. 18. “Hollis Woman.” 19. Id. 20. Cole. 21. “Hollis Woman.” 22. Patricia Sellers Dennis, great-granddaughter of Lamar Looney, telephone conversation with author, Nov. 13, 2002. 23. “Hollis Woman.” 24. Id. 25. Id. 26. Id. 27. Id. 28. Dennis, telephone conversation with author. 29. Park. 30. Sturgeon. 31. Id. 32. “Hollis Woman.” 33. 95 Okla. Reports xxiv, Harlow Pub. Co., Okla. City, Okla., 1923. Listed on the “Roll of Attorneys” admitted from Nov. 1, 1923, to March 1, 1924. 34. Dennis, telephone conversation with author. 35. Park. 36. Dennis, telephone conversation with author. 37. Id. 38. Cole. 39. Park. 40. Id. 41. Park. 42. Id. 43. Cole. 44. Id. 45. Sturgeon. 46. Id. 47. Id. 48. Cole. 49. Id. 50. Id. 51. Id. 52. Dennis, telephone conversation with author. 53. “Hollis Woman.” 54. Oklahoma Almanac: 1999-2000, Okla. Dept. of Libraries, Okla. City, Okla., 1999, p. 666. 55. Park. 56. Cole. 57. Patricia Sellers Dennis, letter to author, Nov. 18, 2002. 58. Cole. 59. Dennis, telephone conversation with author. 60. Park. 61. Sturgeon.
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 14 | SEPTEMBER 2024 Women in Law Jessie Randolph Moore JESSIE ELIZABETH RANDOLPH MOORE WAS BORN ON A PLANTATION in the Chickasaw Nation, Panola County (now Bryan County), on Jan. 30, 1871, to William Colville Randolph and Sarah Ann Tyson Randolph. In 1874, her parents – along with 10 other families – moved to the White Bead Hill region north of the Washita River in what was then Pontotoc County. They established the Randolph settlement north of what is now Maysville. Ms. Moore first attended school in a log schoolhouse built on the Randolph ranch, but the family later moved to Gainesville, Texas, where she attended school at St. Xavier Academy in Denison, Texas, and later Kidd Seminary at Sherman, Texas. Kidd Seminary was known as the “alma mater for the daughters of many prominent families from the Indian Territory.”1 The Randolph family eventually returned to the ranch in the Chickasaw Nation, and Ms. Moore spent a year teaching at Pierce Institute, a Methodist school established in 1884. After marrying U.S. Marshal Elisha Mac Moore in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1899, the couple lived on a ranch south of Purcell for 10 years before moving to Pauls Valley in 1901. The Moores had four children: Thomas R. Moore, Eula Catherine Moore, Sarah Moore and Imogene Moore Rockwood. After the death of her husband, Ms. Moore moved to Oklahoma City. Entering public life out of necessity rather than choice, she became deputy clerk of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Criminal Court of Appeals in 1914. It was during this time that she studied law with Judge Doyle. In addition to her duties with the Supreme Court, Ms. Moore was assistant state commissioner of charities and corrections from 1924 to 1925. In this position, Ms. Moore and Mabel Bassett, commissioner of charities and corrections, were attorneys of record on a reponed decision seeking the release of a juvenile from the state reformatory in Granite.2 In a 1926 election, which she won by a handsome majority, Ms. Moore became the first woman elected clerk of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Criminal Court of Appeals. With the victory, she also became the second woman in Oklahoma history elected to a state office. She served in that position until 1931. Of her bid for a second term as clerk, an article in Harlow’s Weekly stated that to hold the office was “something to be justly proud of. But to have filled that office with success and credit and to have it truthfully said that you have kept the faith is something to be more than proud of; because the voters of the state have helped to make the first possible, but to have given satisfying service from this office is fulfilling a sacred trust, and something that rests entirely upon the shoulders of the person elected to the office.”3 Elaborating on the duties of the office, it was noted that more than 1,000 new appeals were filed each year, and Ms. Moore was responsible for the maintenance of all briefs, records and petitions. She was also required to answer all requests for information from attorneys. Otherwise, she said, the lawyer “situated at a distance from the state capitol is discommoded.”4 The article described the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office as one of the busiest offices at the state Capitol, saying that Ms. Moore “continues daily to wait upon 22 law clerks from three high courts, as well as the Supreme Court referee and the constant stream of lawyers visiting her office for information regarding their cases.” Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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.
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 15 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL In an article printed during her reelection campaign, it was noted that Ms. Moore was one of the emancipated women able “to grasp the opportunities offered by the political field” and make good proving that “a woman [could] fill a state office efficiently.”5 It was further noted that she “[had] made a success of her position because she was not afraid of hard work and responsibility.” The article credited her dedication and the example she set for “placing the women of the state on firmer ground in holding public offices.” “She served 10 years as clerk in the office in a manner so outstanding that the Supreme Court admitted her to the practice of law in 1923.”6 In 1927, she sponsored and secured the passage of a bill through the Legislature that initiated a fixed initial deposit of $25 for the Supreme Court, which resulted in annual savings to taxpayers and litigants.7 During that year, she also was ex officio secretary of the bar commission. In this position, she was responsible for managing all complaints against lawyers, overseeing disbarment proceedings and attending to the examination and admission of attorneys to the practice of law in Oklahoma. She “was active in Democratic politics for many years, participating in various campaigns and for the party ticket in general elections.”8 She was instrumental in the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt when she served as a Democratic presidential elector in 1940 and 1944. Ms. Moore also spearheaded Indian participation in the campaign when Robert S. Kerr ran for and was elected governor.9 She served as director of the Bureau of Maternity and Infancy of the state health department and was named by then-governor W. H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray to head the first Women’s Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Organization in Oklahoma County. Ms. Moore planned and organized the statewide rollout of the organization so successfully that her plan was “adopted and put into force on a nationwide scale by the federal government in 1933.”10 Being of Chickasaw blood, Ms. Moore served as a member of the Chickasaw Tribal Counsel under the late Gov. Douglas H. Johnston of the Chickasaw Nation and later Gov. Floyd E. Maytubby. One of her last efforts and honors on behalf of the Chickasaw Nation and “Indian historical interests was when she served as an official representative for the Chickasaw Nation in ceremonies in Memphis, Tenn., dedicating the newly formed Chickasaw Wing of the U.S. Air Force on Sept. 26, 1954.”11 Ms. Moore was a charter member of the White Bead Presbyterian Church and remained active in the church after it moved to Pauls Valley. Members of her Sunday school class praised Ms. Moore as a wonderful teacher and Christian leader.12 She was president of the Alternate Saturday Club and active in the Eastern Star. For her outstanding contributions in both private and public life, Ms. Moore was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame by the Oklahoma Memorial Association at its Statehood Day banquet on Nov. 16, 1937. Although her legal, political and community contributions were impressive, a campaign article in Harlow’s Weekly noted that Ms. Moore was not a politician but rather was the type of woman you would “expect to find presiding over church, Red Cross, literary and civic improvements meetings. You can easily picture her at the head of the dinner table in a Southern mansion. She is attractive, cultured and gracious; one recognizes immediately that she comes from Southern people ... She Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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.
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 16 | SEPTEMBER 2024 is unassuming, with a kind word and sincere friendliness toward everyone with whom she comes in contact ... the messenger boy gets as cordial a smile as does the biggest lawyer or the richest oil man.”13 Ms. Moore was a poet at heart and displayed her ancestral pride in her literary endeavors. One of her works, “The Five Great Indian Nations,” appeared in the autumn 1951 issue of the Chronicles of Oklahoma and depicted the part played by the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole and Creek Indian tribes on behalf of the confederacy in the Civil War.14 Another of her works, “Lines on an Indian Face,” written in 1907, gives a “sensitive perspective on the decimation of the Native American culture.”15 Following the death of Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore on Oct. 7, 1956, Muriel H. Wright wrote an article for the Chronicles of Oklahoma commemorating her life. Ms. Wright noted, “Oklahoma has lost one of its best loved and revered pioneer women. Ms. Moore was known far and wide over the state for her devotion and her contributions to the history of Oklahoma.”16 According to her obituary, Ms. Moore’s contributions to public life made her one of the state’s leading women in its development, as well as a guiding spirit in its attainments, and in the growth of the Oklahoma Historical Society, serving as a member of the Board of Directors for 37 years and as treasurer for 35 years, becoming a lifetime member in 1920. She possessed “fine executive abilities and staunch loyalty,” and “yet her talents lay in her inquiring mind and her choice of words in expressing her thoughts.”17 Ms. Moore’s pride in her Chickasaw heritage was recognized at her funeral, where she requested that the pallbearers be selected from persons of Chickasaw descent. Among the pallbearers were Chickasaw Nation Gov. Floyd Maytubby and Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Earl Welch. At her funeral, Haskell Paul – of the pioneer Paul family of Pauls Valley – paid tribute to Ms. Moore as “one of Oklahoma’s heroic women,” saying she was courageous, generous and humble with a strong intellect. He noted that it was in Pauls Valley that she was first recognized for her great character, which would later be appreciated by all Oklahoma citizens. Mr. Haskell’s mother, Victoria Paul, who had known Ms. Moore for 60 years, said she was always a lady who “could look the world in the face with a clear conscience.”18 ENDNOTES Individual Sources: Judge Candace L. Blalock Jayne N. Montgomery Judge Reta M. Strubhar 1. Muriel H. Wright, “Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore of the Chickasaw Nation,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, XXXIV (Winter, 1956-57), Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1957, p. 393. 2. Ex parte Bonitz, 30 Okla. Crim. 45, 234 P. 780 (Okla. Crim. App. 1925). 3. Vetrus K. Hampton, “A Woman Masters a Big State Department,” Harlow’s Weekly, p. 5a. 4. Id. 5. Id. 6. Id. 7. Id. 8. “Retired Court Clerk, Political Figure is Dead,” The Daily Oklahoman, Oct. 8, 1956. 9. Id. 10. Wright, p. 394. 11. Id. 12. Id. 13. Hampton, p.394. 14. Jessie Elizabeth Randol Moore, “The Five Great Indian Nations,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, XXIX (Autumn 1951), Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1951, p. 324. 15. Judge Candace L. Blalock, letter to Judge Reta M. Strubhar. 16. Wright, p. 392. 17. Id. 18. Id., p. 395. Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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.
THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 18 | SEPTEMBER 2024 Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. Women in Law Florence Etheridge Cobb FLORENCE ETHERIDGE COBB WAS BORN IN BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, on Sept. 20, 1878, to Samuel W. and Emma A. (Nichols) Etheridge. Her childhood was spent near Boston and Everett, Massachusetts, and she graduated from Everett High School on June 23, 1897. Although she was raised in New England, she did not appear to have a stilted manner or live by the customs of mid-Victorian Boston. Because of her belief that women had the ability to succeed in activities outside the home, she pursued a legal education. She attended the Washington College of Law, where she received her law degree on May 26, 1911. On Oct. 3, 1911, she was admitted to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia on a motion by Ellen Spencer Mussey.1 Ms. Cobb continued her legal education, and on May 27, 1912, she received an LL.M. from the Washington College of Law. She was admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 29, 1915. While living in Washington, D.C., she was employed at the Census Bureau, the Department of Commerce, the Division of Education and, finally, the Office of Indian Affairs. During her years in government service, she was elected treasurer of the Federal Employees Union in 1916, and from 1917 to 1921, she served as the fourth vice president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. Ms. Cobb was one of the few women in federal government service during these years and did her part in the “war of independence for women,” according to an article in the Wewoka Times-Democrat.2 She was a “revolutionist when it came to the question of woman’s place, and proper amount of activity in the world outside of the home.”3 Ms. Cobb’s drive to establish the independence of women led her to organize the inaugural suffrage parade on March 3, 1913. This concerted effort on behalf of the women’s movement came at a time when there was a “newer, more liberal, progressive administration under Woodrow Wilson ... and the Democratic Party was forced to take cognizance of the growing demand of women for a share in the government.”4 However, the conservatism of the Old South and New England forced many women suffragists to play the “role of unwanted martyrdom,” as the press portrayed them as exhibiting unladylike attitudes of defiance while picketing the White House.5 During this same period, Ms. Cobb was appointed to the office of probate lawyer based on her work as a law clerk, where she consistently demonstrated her legal aptitude and ability. In 1918, she relocated to Vinita and became a U.S. probate attorney. After serving there for two years, she went to Seminole County and served in the same position for one year. Upon arriving in Oklahoma, she was admitted to practice law before the Oklahoma Supreme Court on June 3, 1918. Settling in Wewoka, it was noted that there was an “unusual stir of chivalry among the pioneer legal practitioner who had any probate practice.”6 The gentlemen curtailed their rough-and-tumble tactics on days when she might be in court, but perhaps the unfailing show of courtesy in the courtroom made her wonder what might be going on behind the scenes. She was constantly on the alert as to “whether any unfortunate Indians were being defrauded of their lands secretly by old ruses.”7 In 1923, Ms. Cobb represented the intervener in a reported decision dealing with constitutional amendments, one of which was the so-called women’s amendment, which would extend the
SEPTEMBER 2024 | 19 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal 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. qualifications of persons eligible to elective or appointive offices of the state to women. On March 25, 1921, she married T. S. Cobb, a former county judge of Seminole County. He was one of the typical fighting, frontier-type lawyers, and she admired his spirit; he admired hers as well. After leaving the Indian Department, she continued practicing law with her husband and assisted him in his projects throughout his bouts with failing health. Ms. Cobb “was a woman of considerable literary ability, and had she chosen an exclusively literary career might have risen to heights of distinction.”8 Even with her focus on her legal career, she did have many published poems and articles. Fostered by her intense interest in literature, Ms. Cobb helped form the Wewoka Writers Club, which may have explained her willingness to become a librarian for the Wewoka City Library. Ms. Cobb also exercised her literary abilities when she and her husband produced The Gossip, a news sheet that championed the unpopular issues of the day and stood up for the underprivileged minority. After the death of her husband, she continued its publication and “was a champion of what she felt was right against corruption, politically and socially.”9 Ms. Cobb’s legal career was diverse. Besides practicing law, she served a term as justice of the peace in Wewoka, and for several years, she was a municipal judge for the city of Wewoka. During her tenure as judge, she prepared the charter and ordinances of the city of Wewoka for publication in 1935. In 1922, Ms. Cobb became the Oklahoma chairman of the National Women’s Party, and in 1924, she organized a convention for the Government Workers Council of the National Women’s Party in Washington, D.C. She was also parliamentarian of the Federation of Women’s Clubs and a member of the Women’s Bar Association of Oklahoma, the National Institute of Social Sciences, the American Bar Association, the American Academy of Political Science, the American Economic Society and the Women Lawyers Club of New York. She was also listed in “Who’s Who in America.” When Ms. Cobb died March 14, 1946, the Seminole County Bar Association resolved that “it has lost an honored and distinguished member of the bar, a positive and dynamic thinker who had the courage of her convictions, whose place in our association will probably never be filled during the lifetime of any of its present members.”10 ENDNOTES Individual Sources: Vance Trimble 1. H.W. Carver, “Necrology: Florence Ethridge Cobb, 1878-1946,” Chronicles of Oklahoma, XXV (Spring 1947), Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1947, pp. 72-73. 2. “Originator of Inaugural Suffrage Parade Passes,” Wewoka Times-Democrat, March 15, 1946, p. 1. 3. Id. 4. Id. 5. Id. 6. Id. 7. Id. 8. Id. 9. Id. 10. Carver.
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