Our chapter partnered with Tulsa Global Alliance to welcome a delegation of four criminal and anti-corruption law judges and a legal scholar from Armenia. The delegation visited Tulsa through the U.S. Congressional Office for International Leadership’s Open World Program to learn about the U.S. jury system and to consider whether to develop a similar system in their country.

Our chapter hosted an informal evening of camaraderie, cocktails, and snacks as we interviewed Kathie Coyle about her career twists and turns: what she does, how she does it, and where she attributes her success.

Our chapter’s sold-out summer courthouse tour returned for a third year in a row. This year we hosted more than 35 law students and attorney chaperones for a morning with the US Marshals Service, US Probation Office, Court Clerk's Office, Magistrate Judges, and District Judges. The event concluded with a lunch where students had the opportunity to casually converse with seven judges from both the Northern and Eastern Districts.

Our chapter offered a Federal Criminal Defense Practicum for 2L and 3L law students in Spring 2024. This 8-week program started in mid-January and involved weekly sessions during the lunch hour addressing the intricacies of federal criminal defense practice. Each session was led by a federal District or Magistrate Judge or another instructor associated with the federal courts.

Our chapter hosted an informal evening of camaraderie, cocktails, and snacks as we interviewed former federal judge Lane Wilson about his career twists and turns: what he does, how he does it, and where he attributes his success.

On January 26, 2024, our chapter hosted thirteen federal judges from both our districts and approximately fifty practitioners and students for a morning of casual conversation and coffee. This FBA members-only event was the first bench and bar event featuring new Northern District judges Hon. John Russell and Hon. Sara Hill.

Our chapter hosted a reception on January 11, 2024, honoring Northern District Judge Terence C. Kern and his thirty years of judicial service. Attendees began the evening with refreshments and conversation in the Boulder Building’s recently renovated jury assembly room, then adjourned to the architectural elegance of Judge Kern’s courtroom for a retrospective on his career moderated by Mary Quinn Cooper.

Our chapter presented 7 hours of CLE delivered by some of Northeastern Oklahoma’s most experienced practitioners and jurists in seven subject areas: criminal law, civil rights, Indian law, employment law, civil procedure/federal jurisdiction, ethics, and commercial law/bankruptcy.

Christopher J. Nassar, NEOK chapter member and Deputy Criminal Chief with the Northern District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office, has been named the recipient of the Federal Bar Association's Younger Federal Lawyer Award. This award acknowledges younger federal lawyers who attain high standards of professional achievement and accords public recognition for outstanding performance

On September 28, 2023, United States Magistrate Judge Jodi F. Jayne and our chapter hosted the Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions program, a national initiative of the United States Courts that brings high school students into federal courthouses for experience with civil discourse skills, complex decision making, and legal proceedings relating to situations in which law-abiding young people can find themselves.

Our incoming president-elect Thomas Duncombe and incoming vice president Chris Vaught represented our chapter at the Federal Bar Association national convention and annual meeting in Memphis, Tennessee. Tom and Chris accepted our chapter's Presidential Achievement Award (which we won for a third year in a row!) and spent some quality time with our friends from down the turnpike at the Oklahoma City chapter.

In September 2023, our Eastern District district, magistrate, and bankruptcy judges hosted more than 50 practitioners for a morning of conversation, coffee, and cinnamon rolls.

Our chapter offered two morning-long tours of the Northern District courthouse in June and July 2023. Between the first-half and second-half tours, we hosted almost 60 law students and attorney mentors from 15 private firms and public service entities; provided opportunities for participants to interface with both active district judges in the Northern District and six magistrate judges from the Northern and Eastern Districts; and offered rare insights into the workings of the Clerk of Court, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the U.S. Probation Office.

Our chapter’s biggest event yet was “Sidebar with Your Magistrate Judges,” an event with over 100 lawyer attendees, nine judges in attendance, and sponsorships from the two district courts we serve along with our sister chapter in Oklahoma City. The event offered civil practitioners unique insight into the process for appointment of magistrate judges, the backgrounds and experience of the magistrate judges in both the Northern and Eastern Districts, and first-hand experiences of practitioners on consenting to magistrate judge jurisdiction.

Our past president and current national delegate Isaac Ellis traveled to Washington D.C. for the Federal Bar Association's Capitol Hill Day, where FBA leaders from across the country met with House and Senate offices to discuss important FBA legislative issues that impact the administration of justice and the federal courts.

In March 2023, United States Magistrate Judge Jodi F. Jayne and our chapter hosted the Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions program, a national initiative of the United States Courts that brings high school students into federal courthouses for experience with civil discourse skills, complex decision making, and legal proceedings relating to situations in which law-abiding young people can find themselves.

In January 2023, Northern District court reporters Terri Beeler and Laura Griffin presented a lunchtime CLE on the best practices and worst pratfalls of making a record in federal court.

In December 2022, four federal judges from three jurisdictions and thirteen of Oklahoma’s most well-respected federal practitioners presented a 7-hour CLE on the Tenth Circuit’s 2022 decisions in the areas of criminal law; civil rights; Indian law; employment law; civil procedure, federal courts, & jurisdiction; habeas corpus & prisoner litigation; ethics; environmental law; and commercial law & bankruptcy. Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes delivered the keynote address.