---

JENNIFER R. ANNIS 

Jennifer R. Annis graduated from the OU College of Law in 1998 and joined the law firm then known as Atkinson, Haskins, Nellis, Holeman, Phipps, Brittingham & Gladd, where she developed her skills as a trial lawyer, primarily defending medical malpractice actions. In 2022, she became a shareholder in the Tulsa office of GableGotwals, representing both corporate and individual clients in a wide range of industries, including health care, insurance, construction, engineering and energy.

An experienced trial attorney, Ms. Annis is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. She is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and DRI. She has been an active member of the Oklahoma Association of Defense Counsel, serving on the Board of Directors from 2009-2016 and was the OADC president in 2014.

In addition to her professional achievements, Ms. Annis is civic-minded and community oriented. She has served Special Olympics Oklahoma for more than 20 years as a member of the Board of Directors and has been elected to its Executive Committee for the past 12 years. Additionally, she has held several leadership roles at Harvard Avenue Christian Church.

She is married to Bill Largess, and they have three daughters: Kimberly, Maggie and Olivia.

---

VIRGINIA HENSON 

Virginia (Ginny) Henson is a sole practitioner in Norman who practices mainly family law. She received her J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1979.  She has held numerous leadership positions in the OBA Family Law Section, including chair.  She has been an editor of the Oklahoma Family Law Section Practice Manual since 2006.

Ms. Henson assumed the update responsibilities for the Oklahoma Family Law Handbook, created by Professor Robert Spector in 2023. She is an adjunct professor of family law at the OU College of Law and has served on the Board of Editors of the Oklahoma Bar Journal.

She received the OBA Golden Quill Award for best Oklahoma Bar Journal article in 2020. She has twice been named the Oklahoma Outstanding Lawyer. She is also a member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Ms. Henson has presented extensively in continuing legal education for the American Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association and its Family Law Section, the Tinker Air Force Base JAG and numerous county bar associations.

---

CHERYL PLAXICO 

Cheryl Plaxico is passionate about the practice of law. She is realizing her childhood dream of being a lawyer. That aspiration came about from her observations of three lawyers from the “Greatest Generation”: her neighbor, retired Judge Donald Worthington, and family friends Clee Fitzgerald and Winfrey Houston. Those three attorneys personally encouraged her ambition and, by their actions, demonstrated the profound positive impact lawyers could have on their communities and society as a whole.

Ms. Plaxico is now in her 43rd year of achieving her youthful aim and has maintained the passion for the practice she has had from inception. While her law practice has always been focused on business or commercial law, she is unique in not only representing clients in complex commercial litigation but also in a broad range of commercial transactions. She has also been honored to represent clients in defending their religious freedoms and was proud to provide pro bono counsel to the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board in a case that was recently heard by the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Plaxico has been a leader in Oklahoma state and county bar associations and is a member and past president of the Luther Bohanon chapter of the American Inns of Court, on whose Executive Board she currently serves. Prior to forming Plaxico Law Firm PLLC, she was a partner in several medium-sized firms and a large law firm, where she served on the Board of Directors.

Public service has been a very important part of her career. Among other things, she served a three-year term as chair of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS), beginning when the failures documented in John Grisham’s book, The Innocent Man, existed and quickly led a turnaround to a system that appropriately fulfilled the accused’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel, along with navigating the challenges faced by OIDS when the agency was appointed to provide counsel to defendant Terry Nichols for his state trial relating to his role in the Murrah Building bombing. She also served nine years as a member and chair of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

---

REV. DR. LORI WALKE 

The Rev. Dr. Lori Walke serves as the senior minister at Mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City.  Blending her background as an attorney and minister, Dr. Walke is unabashedly enthusiastic about what a well-prepared argument and community can do to make life on Earth as it is in heaven. A recognized public speaker and author with a monthly column in The Oklahoman for the past four years, Dr. Walke gives a voice to those who often lack one.

Dr. Walke earned her B.S. in political science from OSU in 2005, where she was also a four-year scholarship student-athlete for Cowgirl basketball. She earned her M.S. in health care administration from OSU in 2006.  She received her J.D. from the OCU School of Law in 2009 and passed the bar exam the same year. To further confuse people about what she wanted to be when she grew up, Dr. Walke then went on to earn her Master of Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary and was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ in 2012. After serving as the associate minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC for eight years, she was called as senior minister in November 2020. She earned her Doctor of Ministry from Emory University in 2020. She and her husband, Collin, delight in their seven brilliant nieces and love to spoil Teddy, their ever-grinning pocket pit.

---

MONICA YBARRA WEEDN 

Utilizing a unique blend of in-house counsel and private practice litigation experience, Monica Ybarra Weedn represents individual and business clients in her practice at Rosell & Love PLLC in Oklahoma City. Having previously served as corporate counsel and in-house director of legal affairs, Ms. Weedn appreciates the legal challenges and business concerns facing small and mid-sized companies, and she enjoys advising and problem-solving with business teams. Her first love was family law litigation, and she still represents clients in family law matters at both the trial and appellate levels.

After graduating from the OCU School of Law in 2014, she began her legal career as an associate at Phillips Murrah PC. She subsequently transitioned into in-house counsel work, where she discovered a new way to practice law as part of a business team. Now, back in private practice, she enjoys blending her experience to advocate for and advise her clients.

Her dedication to the legal profession has been recognized by The Journal Record (Leadership in Law Award), the Oklahoma County Bar Association (Community Service Award) and the OCU School of Law (Outstanding Young Alumnus), among others. She is the incoming vice president of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, one of the largest and most active voluntary bar associations in the country, and the incoming chair for OKConnect.

A passionate advocate for mentorship, Ms. Weedn mentors law students through the OCU Law Mentorship Program and other young professionals through the OKC Latino Young Professionals (OKCLYP) Association Mentorship Program. Additionally, she has mentored several high school and college students, helping them to grow and consider their full potential.

She dedicates time to numerous professional, community and nonprofit organizations, including the Oklahoma Board of Bar Examiners, the Oklahoma County Bar Association, the OBA Women in Law Section, OKCYLP, the Downtown Exchange Club of Oklahoma City, OKConnect and StitchCrew Inc. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, hiking and attending local arts and sporting events.