TU College of Law honors top students and distinguished alumni at annual luncheon

The University of Tulsa College of Law held its Annual Alumni Luncheon at the Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Convention on Wednesday, November 7, 2007, and honored four exceptional students and two distinguished alumni.
Misty Cooper Watt, a third-year law student from Iola, Kan., was presented the OBA Outstanding Student Award. She was selected by law school faculty based on her many accomplishments at the law school including: serving as editor-in-chief of the Tulsa Law Review, Women’s Law Caucus vice president, Student Bar Association class delegate, Student Ambassador, member of the Phi Delta Phi legal honors fraternity, Property teaching assistant, and aid to the Legal Research Department. After graduating in December, Watt will join a litigation group in the law firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker, L.L.P., in Kansas City, Missouri.
Three students were awarded Oklahoma Bar Foundation Chapman Rogers Scholarships in recognition of their accomplishments and their commitment to practice law in Oklahoma after graduating. The OBF’s Chapman Rogers Educational Fund was created in honor of long-time Tulsa lawyer John Rogers, who served as dean of TU’s law school from 1949-1957. The winners of the OBF scholarships were third-year law students Trent Bridges, Michon Hughes and Christopher Wilson.

Bridges, of Edmond, is the current editor-in-chief of the Tulsa Law Review, recently had a casenote accepted for publication and will practice with Oklahoma City law firm McAfee & Taft as an Associate after graduation. Hughes is a Tulsa native who serves as vice president of the Board of Advocates and won the ABA Regional Negotiations competition the law school recently hosted, qualifying for nationals. Wilson, from Broken Arrow, is the managing editor of the Tulsa Law Review, has been a volunteer law clerk for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and will join Conner & Winters in Tulsa for after graduation.

The law school also recognized the Honorable James D. Goodpaster (JD ’67) as Outstanding Senior Alumnus and Samantha Weyrauch (JD ’00) as Outstanding Junior Alumna. These award winners were selected by the alumni nomination committee for the way they have exceeded the high standards of the field of law while maintaining a commitment to the law school.

Goodpaster has served as district judge for the 12th Judicial District since January 1991. He also has served as an assistant district attorney for Tulsa County, special district judge for the 14th judicial district and city attorney for Chelsea.

Weyrauch, who also became a certified public accountant in March, is in her third year serving on the College of Law Alumni Board and first year as an adjunct faculty member at the law school. She is also on the board of directors for Ronald McDonald House and Light Opera Oklahoma.

Those in attendance heard featured speaker and interim dean of the law school, Janet Koven Levit, address the college’s current state and future in her speech, “Our Law School, Our Future.”