Committee Presents Spotlight Awards
By Deborah J. Bruce

Julie Bates is a member of the Oklahoma City law firm of Postic & Bates.  She currently serves on the OBA Board of Governors and has served on numerous OBA committees over the years — Awards, Civil Procedure, Legal Ethics, Rules of Professional Conduct and the National Mock Trial and Lawyer Referral Services Task Forces. She also previously served as vice chief master of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal, is a Fellow of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and is a member of the Oklahoma County Bar, serving on its Board of Directors. Ms. Bates is the co-founder, former administrator (1995-2006) and master emeritus of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg American Inn of Court. She was co-author of a chapter in Matthew Bender’s three-volume treatise, “Personal Injury Defense Litigation Techniques.” She serves as an adjunct professor at the OU College of Law, teaching adoption law and civil pretrial litigation. Since 1997 she has served as a faculty member for the law school’s “Graduate School of Trial Advocacy,” a practical skills refresher course for attorneys. She also volunteers her time to speak to junior high and high school students about the law, legal system, and rights and responsibilities as citizens.

Mary F. Fitzgerald is a district court judge for Tulsa County. She formerly served as a judicial referee for Tulsa County and as managing attorney for Legal Aid Services. She then assumed a position with the legal department of The Williams Companies. Judge Fitzgerald was hired by the Tulsa County District Courts as family court case manager and juvenile court referee in 2003. Her assignments have included criminal arraignments, guardianship disposition dockets, review of DHS records, truancy prevention, DUI/drug court, parenting plan conferences and hardship juror exemptions. Judge Fitzgerald currently presides over a general jurisdiction civil docket. In addition, she is the chief judge of the family division. She serves on numerous OBA and Tulsa County Bar Association committees. Judge Fitzgerald has been a member of the OBA Women in Law planning committee for many years. She is on the Board of Directors for Tulsa CASA Inc. and is active with the Tulsa Community Food Bank. She is a member of Hudson Hall Wheaton Chapter of The American Inns of Court and currently serves as president, where she has instituted a new practice of adopting a charity for each monthly meeting and inviting members to bring products to donate to that charity. 

Patricia D. MacGuigan is an administrative law judge for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in the oil and gas division. She has more than 30 years experience and a diverse background in numerous areas of the law, including significant work history in the corporate/business litigation field. She was the first woman to serve as judge and presiding judge of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals. She held that position for nine years. She is also a member of the Ontario Law Society of Upper Canada Bar (bar of the province of Ontario, Canada) and can practice in all Canadian courts. She is a member of the Oklahoma County, Oklahoma and American bar associations. She is also a member of the Women Lawyers Association, and has been a member of the National Association of Women Judges and Iota Tau Tau. She is an adjunct professor at the OU College of Law. In 1983 she was named Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women’s Association and became a master of the bench of the American Inn of Court XXIII in 1990. She also is a master in the William J. Holloway Jr. American Inn of Court CV and is a member of the Oklahoma Lawyers for Children. She has received numerous merit and service awards from the above listed professional and legal organizations.

Sheila J. Sewell currently serves as chief deputy court clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. She has a long and distinguished legal career dedicated to public service. Ms. Sewell first served as an assistant district attorney in Comanche County and then as an assistant city attorney in Lawton. She previously served as general counsel to the Pardon and Parole Board and as assistant general counsel for the Oklahoma City Public Schools. For many years, Ms. Sewell was the deputy director of the Administrative Office of the Courts and also served as administrative secretary for the Council on Judicial Complaints. She later assumed the position of trial court administrator for Oklahoma County District Court. She has served on numerous committees including the Public Defender Committee and Administration of Justice. She was a charter fellow of the Young Lawyers Division, is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and was the co-founder of the OBA Attorney Art Show. Her community activities include serving as president of the Little Theatre Board, member of the Lyric Academy Parents Support Board and as technical crew or prop mistress for eight (and four upcoming) community theater productions.

April Sellers White is an associate district judge for Creek County, a position she has held since 1986. She is the first judge in a long family line of lawyers including her great-aunt, Crenna Sellers Dolge, who graduated from Yale Law School in 1929. She and her brother Jefferson, a district judge for Tulsa County, are the only sister-brother judge team in Oklahoma history. She chaired the Creek County Juvenile Justice Task Force for 15 years and the Creek County Mental Health Solutions Committee for 14 years. She was appointed to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals — Emergency Appellate Division and since 1996, has been a member of the State Post Adjudication Review Advisory Board. She is a member of the OBA, ABA and Creek County Bar. She currently serves as co-chair of the Judges Helping Judges Committee. She has received numerous awards including United Methodist Women’s Distinguished Service Award, Outstanding Judge of 2003 by the Oklahoma Chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse, Outstanding Wildlife Judge by the Game Rangers Association, Champion for Children Award by the Foster Care Association of Oklahoma Inc., the Rape Crisis Project Award by Call Rape Foundation of Tulsa and the Community Service Award from Sapulpa Public Schools.

Committee Presents Spotlight Awards
Published 79 OBJ 2213 (Oct. 11, 2008)