OBA Members Share Expertise Through CLE

May 3, 2021

Every year, Oklahoma lawyers fit in to their busy practices time to fulfill their Continuing Legal Education requirements. The OBA CLE staff works to provide relevant programs to meet members’ needs, and looks to members and their wide-ranging expertise to help provide those programs.

Rebecca J. King currently has a course in the online CLE catalog on Expungements, What is in a Criminal Record. Her criminal defense practice is primarily in Logan and Payne Counties where King represents a large number of university students. “Assisting those clients in cleaning up their backgrounds for future careers or graduate school is immensely important and fulfilling,”

King said she offered her time to provide the course to other OBA members to increase awareness in the expungement process.

“It has been my experience that many attorneys and judges are not familiar with the intricacies of expungements and the records actually expunged (and those that are not) based on the basis for the expungements. I cannot tell you how many times I have overheard an attorney advise a client that at the conclusion of his/her deferred sentence it will be “wiped” from the record ‘like it never happened,’ or a judge advise a defendant that at the end of the deferred sentence the case will be expunged from the defendant’s ‘record(s).'”
Rebecca King, King & Winningham

Another popular CLE series has been Between Two Weeds “Joint Sessions,” a legislative review with Tulsa’s Amber Peckio Garrett, a member of the OBA Board of Governors and Oklahoma City’s Felina Rivera.

“My interest in cannabis law is personal. It stems from watching my mother suffer for years due to chronic pain from autoimmune issues. Unfortunately, cannabis was not available to her as a pain management tool and she fell victim to opioid addiction. In 2014 she passed away at the age of 54. I truly believe had medical cannabis been available to her, she might still be alive today. “
Felina Rivera, Felina Firm

Rivera said it was an honor to be asked by the OBA to share what she knows about cannabis law with her colleagues. “How could I say no?! I also enjoy ‘performing’ and being on camera. I play and perform music in my free time, so this is just another outlet for me to tap into my creative side!”

In addition to developing and producing seminars, the OBA CLE Department also assists many OBA Sections and Committees, such as the Women in Law, Diversity and Professionalism committees with events, coordinates on co-sponsored seminars, provides webcasting services, and plans and coordinates the Leadership Academy, expected to return in 2022.