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Oklahoma Bar Journal

From the OBF President | What Lawyers Get Right: Partnering To Make a Difference Through the OBF

By Jim Dowell

I recently saw a survey that indicated the majority of law school students choose to attend law school because they want to advocate for social justice and help others. If we asked nonlawyers what they think of the legal profession, we would likely find that the perception of lawyers does not align with the goals of law students. Instead, we might hear a lot of unflattering jokes about lawyers.

Often, the negative societal perception of lawyers is based on a misunderstanding of what we do. When a prior OBF president asked me several years ago to serve on the OBF board, one statement he made caught my attention. He said the OBF is “something that lawyers get right.” At the time, I had no idea how true that statement was.

Every year, the OBF awards grants to numerous nonprofits throughout the state that provide a variety of law-related services to people in need. In 2024, the OBF awarded $2 million in grants to more than 50 nonprofits. I am repeatedly struck by the incredible work of these grantees and their passion for helping others.

One of the OBF grantees I am most familiar with is Western Plains Youth & Family Services, which is headquartered in my hometown of Woodward. In addition to operating a youth and family shelter and providing many other community services, Western Plains also operates juvenile detention centers in western Oklahoma. I know from my experience in law enforcement many years ago that these juvenile detention centers used to be cold, harsh jails for kids who often ended up in these facilities repeatedly. Western Plains, with the assistance of OBF grants, has transformed these facilities so they provide troubled children, who are in this program pursuant to court order, with counseling, education and tools to give them a real chance at a new life. Their goal is to never see these children in detention again.

There are similar stories from across the state, both in urban and rural areas. Some OBF grantees provide services for abused children and victims of domestic abuse. Some provide diversion services to help people get out of the criminal justice system and lead productive lives. Others provide legal services to people who have no ability to hire a lawyer. Still others provide crucial services for refugees and immigrants. For a full list of grantees, I encourage you to visit the OBF website, www.okbarfoundation.org. I have seen employees of many of these grantees with tears in their eyes, describing the lives they impact, and each of them is enormously grateful for the grants they receive from the OBF.

In addition to nonprofit grants, the OBF is working to address the shortage of court reporters in rural areas by awarding grants to court reporters willing to work in communities where they are most needed. The OBF also provides grants to courts for technology upgrades, which have been awarded in all 77 counties of the state. In an effort to make a legal education more affordable for some students, the OBF provides scholarships to students at each of the three Oklahoma law schools. In fact, a new scholarship was created just this past year.

So what do we need from you? The obvious answer is we need you to contribute money. The OBF can not do its work without funds. But we need more than that. We need you to inform people of the OBF’s work. There are undoubtedly nonprofits around the state that need and would qualify for an OBF grant but do not know to ask. If you know of such a nonprofit, tell them about the OBF. If you see a need that no organization is available to address, perhaps you can take the lead in starting a nonprofit to address such a need.

The work of the OBF brings to life some of the idealism that young law students have, and that, unfortunately, is all too easy to lose in the practice of law. I encourage you to partner with us in doing what law students say motivated them to go to law school in the first place: helping people and improving society.

The legal community can do great good if we work together, and there is much work to be done. So please partner with us as we continue to be something lawyers get right.

Mr. Dowell practices in Woodward and serves as the 2025 OBF president.


Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar JournalOBJ 96 No. 2 (February 2025)

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.