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In honor of Black History
Month, the OBA wishes to recognize
prominent African-American members of Oklahoma’s
legal profession with outstanding career accomplishments.
Each unique story is the culmination of years
of hard work invested in the study and practice
of law. The landmark achievements of the following
people reflect their dedication to justice and
ability to influence change in our state and
beyond.
John Green,
Civil Rights Advocate
 Nine
years after Brown v. Topeka Board of Education,
Oklahoma City’s public school district remained
segregated. John Green took
on the school district as a client and served
as the lead attorney in Dowell v. School Board
of Oklahoma City Public Schools, the case
that forced the Oklahoma City school system to
integrate all public schools and make education
in Oklahoma equal for all races. Throughout his
legal career, Mr. Green has made a name for himself
as a pioneer in the pursuit of racial equality.
Soon after he was admitted to the OBA in 1957,
Mr. Green started a private practice that focused
on Oklahoma City segregation issues. Mr. Green
was instrumental in a state lawsuit resulting
in African-Americans obtaining access to all restaurants.
Mr. Green is accustomed to risk taking. After
graduating from high school in Idabel, he attended
Morehouse College in Georgia, where he became
a close friend and confidant of fellow fraternity
brother, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Mr. Green earned a distinguished
combat record in the Korean War, where he was
awarded the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and
Bronze Star Medal in a newly integrated army.
Following his military service, Mr. Green became
the second African-American to graduate from the
OU College of Law.
During his career, Mr. Green broke still other
racial barriers. He was the first African-American
to serve in the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s
Office as a prosecutor, as the U.S. Attorney for
the Western District of Oklahoma and on the OBA
Board of Governors. Outside the legal profession,
he created the Southwestern Urban Foundation,
which has raised more than $2 million during the
past four years. Its mission targets financial
support for the struggles within the African-American
and other ethnic communities in Oklahoma. Even
in retirement, Mr. Green continues to mentor young
attorneys and advises the governor and other state
leaders on the selection of judicial appointments.
Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange,
U.S. District Court for the Western District
of Oklahoma
 Judge
Vicki Miles-LaGrange was the first African-American
Chief U.S. District Court Judge for the Western
District of Oklahoma. She was also the first
woman U.S. attorney in Oklahoma and among the
first in the nation. She was appointed by President
Bill Clinton, who also honored her with
the lifetime appointment as federal judge. In
1986, Judge Miles-LaGrange was also the first
African-American female elected to the Oklahoma
State Senate, during which time she chaired
the Judiciary Committee, the Legislative Black
Caucus and the Law and Justice Committee of
the National Conference of State Legislators.
A cum laude graduate of Vassar College
in New York and a J.D. graduate of Howard University
School of Law in Washington, DC, Judge Miles-LaGrange
has many notable accomplishments. She is a member
of the International Judicial Relations Committee
of the Judicial Conference of the United States,
to which she was appointed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice
William Rehnquist. In 2000, she was part
of the American/China Civil Trial Procedure Workshop
Delegation to the People?s Republic of China and
Hong Kong, sponsored by the National Committee
on U.S./China Relations. She had previously served
as a professor of graduate business at Tianjin
University of Finance and Economics and lectured
at Tsinghua University School of Law, both in
China. In her early career, Judge Miles-LaGrange
served as an assistant district attorney in Oklahoma
County, a trial attorney for the U.S. Department
of Justice, a law clerk for U.S. District Judge
Woodrow Seals and a congressional aide
for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Carl
Albert.
Judge Miles-LaGrange is an Oklahoma fellow of
the American Bar Foundation, a member of the American
Bar Association, National Bar Association, American
Inns of Court, Oklahoma Bar Association and Oklahoma
City Association of Black Lawyers. She is an emerita
master of the William J. Holloway, Jr. Inn of
Court. She has received numerous civic and professional
honors and awards including induction into the
Oklahoma Women?s Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma African-American
Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Bar Association?s Woman
Trailblazer Award, Honorary Distinguished Alumnus
Award from Langston University, Oklahoma District
Attorney?s Association Legislative Leadership
Award; Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
Founders? Award and Ebony Tribune?s Keeper of
the Dream Award, to name a few. She also co-authored
a book titled “A Passion for Equality…The
Life of Jimmy Stewart,”
which was a 2000 Oklahoma Book Award Finalist.
In 2006, Judge Miles-LaGrange received the OBA
Fern Holland Courageous Lawyer Award for
her courageous work to improve the legal systems
of Rwanda, Liberia and Ghana.
Judge Jerome Holmes,
10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
 The
first ever African-American to serve as an OBA
officer was Judge Jerome A.
Holmes, who held the position of vice president
in 2006. He also served on the OBA’s Board
of Governors for several years. Judge Holmes
has been an active leader of his profession since
he graduated law school in 1988 from Georgetown
University, in Washington D.C., where he was the
editor in chief of the Georgetown Immigration
Law Journal.? Before earning his J.D., Judge
Holmes received a bachelor’s degree in history, cum
laude, from Wake Forest University in North
Carolina. He went on to get a master’s degree
in public administration from Harvard University’s
John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he
was a John B. Pickett Fellow in criminal justice
policy and management.
Judge Holmes served as a law clerk for James
E. Alley of the U.S. District Court for
the Western District of Oklahoma and then for Judge
William J. Holloway, Jr. of the 10th Circuit.
After his clerkships, Judge Holmes worked for
the D.C. firm of Steptoe & Johnson before
moving back to Oklahoma, where he served as
an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District
of Oklahoma from 1994–2005.? During that
time, he focused on the investigation and prosecution
of white collar and public corruption crime.
While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Judge
Holmes served as deputy chief of the criminal
division and anti-terrorism coordinator, during
which time he worked for almost one year on the
prosecution team for the Oklahoma City bombing.
He also worked as a director at the Oklahoma City
firm of Crowe & Dunlevy,
where he focused on litigation of complex civil
disputes and continued his work on white collar
crime. Judge Holmes encouraged the establishment
of a diversity committee at the firm and served
as its first chair.
Judge Holmes was nominated to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on
May 4, 2006, by Senators James
Inhofe and Tom Coburn and
the Senate confirmed his nomination on July 25,
2006. When he took the oath of office on Aug.
10, 2006, Judge Holmes became the first African-American
to ever serve on the 10th Circuit.?
Judge Holmes is currently a master of the Judge
William J. Holloway, Jr. American Inn of Court
and also serves on the American Bar Association’s
Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.
Judge David Lewis,
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
 In
1980, Judge David B. Lewis received
a bachelor’s degree in business administration
and economics, with high honors.? He then went
on to earn his J.D. from the OU College of Law
in 1983. After graduating law school, Judge Lewis
worked as an attorney at the Clark Law Offices
in Lawton until he moved on to serve as Comanche
County Assistant District Attorney until 1991.?
He also began his judicial career in Comanche
County, where he was later appointed by Gov.
Frank Keating as district judge of Comanche,
Stephens, Cotton and Jefferson Counties on April
2, 1999.? From 2002–2005, Judge Lewis served
as chief judge of the Comanche County Courthouse,
until Gov. Brad Henry appointed
him to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
for the Fifth Judicial District on Aug. 5, 2005.
Some of Judge Lewis’ honors include serving
as president of the Oklahoma Judicial
Conference in 2004.? He previously served
on the Oklahoma Access to Justice Commission,
the board of directors of Goodwill Industries
in Lawton, the Lawton Chamber of Commerce Board
of Directors, the Black Achievers Program Board
of Directors, the OBA Professionalism
Committee and the OBA National Mock Trial
Task Force.? In Lawton, he was also a member of
the Kiwanis Club, served on the board of directors
of the Christian Family Counseling Center and
mentored in the public schools system. Judge Lewis
has received a number of awards for his dedicated
service to the law community and other state organizations.
Justice Tom Colbert,
Oklahoma Supreme Court
 Justice
Tom Colbert, the first African-American
to serve on the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, was
born in Oklahoma City. He graduated from Sapulpa
High School, earned an associate’s degree
from Eastern Oklahoma State College in 1970
and a bachelor’s degree from Kentucky
State University in 1973. While at Kentucky
State, Justice Colbert was named an All-American
in track and field. Justice Colbert served in
the United States Army and received an honorable
discharge in 1975. He then earned a master of
education degree from Eastern Kentucky University
in 1976 and taught in the public schools in
Chicago.
Justice Colbert received his J.D. from the OU
College of Law in 1982. He was an assistant dean
at Marquette University Law School from 1982–1984
and an Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney
from 1984-1986, before entering private law practice
at Miles-LaGrange & Colbert
from 1986–1989. Justice Colbert continued
his practice under the name Colbert and Associates
from 1989–2000. He also served as an attorney
for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services
from 1988–89 and in 1999.
In March of 2000, Justice Colbert became the
first African-American appointed to the Oklahoma
Court of Civil Appeals, serving as chief judge
in 2004. On Oct. 7, 2004, Gov.
Brad Henry appointed Justice Colbert to
the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.
Justice Colbert is a member of the American
Bar Association, the National Bar Association,
the OBA and the Tulsa County Bar Association.
He also participates in many civic programs such
as the Track & Field
Masters Level, a mentoring program for young men;
a summer reading program for children; and speaks
at schools frequently.
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