Reggie Whitten
Reggie Whitten is Co-Founder of Whitten Burrage. In 2013, Reggie was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and in 2015, the University of Oklahoma inducted him into the Order of the Owl College of Law Hall of Fame and later that year presented Reggie with an honorary degree for his contributions to the university, state and nation. Reggie has been inducted into the prestigious fellowship of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Reggie is from Seminole, Oklahoma, and was the first of his family to graduate from college. He received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1977 and his Juris Doctorate from OU Law in 1980.
In 2008, Reggie and his law partner Michael Burrage obtained one of the largest verdicts in the United States, Burgess v. Farmers Insurance Co. It is believed to be the largest verdict in State of Oklahoma history.
He is past president of the Oklahoma Association for Justice and has been the recipient of several honors including Journal Record Leadership in Law, Oklahoma Association of Justice Tommy D. Frasier Award, and the Oklahoma Bar Association Trailblazer Award.
In 2004, Reggie co-founded the Whitten-Newman Family Foundation in memory of his eldest son, Brandon Whitten, who passed away in 2002 as a result of a traffic accident caused by alcohol and drug addiction. Reggie and his lifelong friend, John Hargrave, created the Brandon Whitten Institute for Addiction and Recovery and FATE (Fighting Addiction Through Education). Reggie has spoken to thousands of high school and college students throughout Oklahoma about the dangers of addiction and substance abuse.
In partnership with the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, Reggie's family foundation co-founded the ExplorOlogy and Native Explorers educational programs which has impacted over 50,000 young people in Oklahoma. His family foundation is also the leading supporter of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, of Gulu, Uganda, a CNN Heroes Award recipient and the first Veritis Splendor laureate, in honor of Saint John Paul II. Reggie has co-authored two books about his life experiences, titled, What's Your Fate?, and Sewing Hope. He also served as Executive Producer of the Netflix documentary, Sewing Hope, a powerful film about Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, narrated by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker.
Michael Burrage
Michael Burrage is a Co-Founder of Whitten Burrage. Michael became the first Native American Federal Judge when he was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton in 1991. In 2016, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and in 2013, the University of Oklahoma College of Law inducted Michael into the Order of the Owl Hall of Fame. Michael is an inductee of the prestigious fellowship of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Michael earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma, where he served as editor of the Oklahoma Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif before graduating with honors in 1974.
Michael began his career as a partner in the law firm of Stamper & Burrage from 1974 to 1994. In 1977, he was voted Outstanding Young Lawyer in Oklahoma and served as a member of the Board of Governors from 1984 through 1986. Michael served as president of the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1990 and was awarded the Neil E. Bogan Professionalism Award in 1991.
He subsequently served as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Oklahoma from 1996 to 2001. Michael also sat by designation of the Chief on approximately 40 cases for the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. In 2011, he returned to private practice and enjoys a success career litigating in various areas of the law.
Michael served as Chair of the Oklahoma State Committee from 2008-2009 for the American College of Trial Lawyers and in 2008, was selected as one of the Top Attorneys in Oklahoma by Oklahoma Magazine. He is a member of the Oklahoma and American Bar Associations, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a member of the Oklahoma Supreme Court Committee for Civil Jury Instructions. Michael lectures at a variety of Continuing Legal Education seminar programs.
Randa K. Reeves
Randa K. Reeves, Associate, was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 2011. She is admitted to practice law before the Northeastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma. Randa received her B.A. with distinction from the University of Oklahoma in 2008 and her J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2011, with honors. She is the recipient of the American Indian Law Review Am Jur Award for Legal Research and Writing and Civil Procedure II and was recognized as having the highest score in her class.
Randa was named by the Oklahoma Bar Association as the Outstanding First Year Law Student in 2008, and a Top 10 Outstanding Graduating Criminology Student. Randa is a member of the Bryant County and Oklahoma County Bar Associations, Oklahoma Association for Justice (OAJ), Oklahoma Lawyers Care, and the American Association for Justice, Luther Bohanon American Inn of Court XXIII.
Randa was appointed to the OAJ Advisory Board in 2015 and the CLE Committee in 2014. She is a 2013 OAJ recipient of the President's Award for contributions as a founding member of Oklahoma Lawyers Care, a group formed to provide aid following the devastating tornados in May 2013. Randa recently helped try a precedent setting case, the first product liability case to be tried against an energy drink company in the United States. She has also served as the second chair trial lawyer on many significant multi-million dollar civil cases, taken trial depositions, and written, responded to and argued a large variety of complex motions.
Randa is from Atoka, Oklahoma, and a valedictorian graduate of Atoka High School.
J. Revell Parrish
J. Revell Parrish was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 2010. Revell has been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma. He received his B.A., from the University of Arkansas in 2007 and his J.D. from the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock in 2010. In Spring 2014, he wrote an article, "Protective Orders" that was published in The Advocate.
Revell is a member of the Oklahoma County and Oklahoma Bar Associations, the Oklahoma Association for Justice, and the American Association for Justice. He has experience in representing both insureds and insurance companies in a variety of matters. Revell spent three years representing insurance companies, trying lawsuits, and taking numerous depositions while prevailing on numerous summary judgment motions.
Revell has represented Plaintiffs in lawsuits involving insurance bad faith, products liability, wrongful death, premises liability, personal injury, and various other matters. His most recent notable cases and contributions include a $6,000,000 wrongful death settlement, a $1,000,000 wrongful death settlement, multiple six figure personal injury settlements, and a significant amount of pro bono work.
Patricia Sawyer
Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Patricia Sawyer earned her J.D. from Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2011 where she graduated with a certificate in Health Law. Patricia previously attended Oklahoma City University where she obtained her B.S.N., Magna Cum Laude. She worked as a registered nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit until her admission to the bar in 2011.
Before joining Whitten Burrage, Patricia worked as a staff attorney at the OU Health Sciences Center (“OUHSC”) where she served as primary counsel for the College of Nursing, College of Public Health, and College of Allied Heath. Her work at OUHSC focused on healthcare law, regulatory compliance, healthcare acquisitions, and contract law.
At Whitten Burrage, Patricia enjoys a diverse legal practice with a primary focus in the areas of Native American law, corporate transactional law, employment law, healthcare law and litigation. Patricia frequently teams up with Michael Burrage to litigate high stakes, complex matters involving a variety of legal issues, including bad faith insurance practices, healthcare disputes, wrongful termination and wrongful death. Patricia was a member of the legal team that successfully litigated a divorce with assets in the billions of dollars. She has also represented the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations in negotiations with the federal government and the State of Oklahoma, before the Tenth Circuit of Appeals, and in international business transactions.
Patricia has real world experience in the healthcare industry and frontline critical patient care experience in one of the most stressful and important settings, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Combining that knowledge with her legal training makes Patricia uniquely qualified and able to relate to clients that find themselves in need of legal help and to effectively deliver that help through results-driven advice and action.
She practices before the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, the District Courts for the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations and the Oklahoma Workers Compensation Commission. Patricia is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma County Bar Association, Chickasaw Nation Bar Association and Choctaw Nation Bar Association. Continuing her lifelong commitment to her community, Patricia provides legal services to clients at the YWCA Inez Kenney Gaylord Emergency Shelter through Legal Aid of Oklahoma.
Matthew Mowdy
Matthew C. Mowdy was born and raised in Coalgate, Oklahoma, and admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 2016. Matthew received a B.S. in Economics and a B.S. in Accounting in 2011 from Oklahoma State University. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law in 2016. Matthew is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Foundation, and the Oklahoma Association for Justice.
Amy E. Davies
Amy E. Davies was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 2005 and practices before the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, and U.S. District Court Eastern and Western Districts. She received her B.A. in English from Stanford University in 2002. Liz earned her J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2005, where she was awarded the American Jurisprudence Awards in Legal Research and Writing and Corporate Finance. Liz began her legal career as a Law Clerk for the Andrew Davis Law Firm before joining Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson as a Law Clerk and later as an Associate Attorney. Prior to joining Whitten Burrage, Liz served as an Associate Attorney at Fellers, Snider, Blankenship, Bailey & Tippens, where she garnered extensive experience drafting and filing briefs in state and federal Court, including appellate briefs. She served as second chair/lead associate on many state and federal trials and served as a document review team lead for large class actions and complex business litigation and insurance defense cases. Liz was honored in 2008 by Oklahoma Super Lawyers as a Rising Star. She is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Oklahoma County Bar Association. Liz is also affiliated with the Phi Beta Phi Alumnae Association and the Junior League of Oklahoma City.
J. Renley Dennis
J. Renley Dennis was raised in Antlers, a small town in Southeast Oklahoma. Renley received a bachelor’s degree in Interpersonal Communications from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2013. He earned his Juris Doctorate and Masters in Native American Studies from the University of Oklahoma in 2017. While in law school, he earned the American Jurisprudence awards for Civil Procedure II and Professional Responsibility, signaling the highest grade in those classes. While in law school, Renley was awarded the Ed & John Shipp Memorial Scholarship his second and third year of law school and the Chahta Foundation Doctorate Scholarship. Upon graduation, Renley was awarded with the Joseph F. Rarick “Just Deserts” Award for 2016-2017. He now serves on the OU College of Law’s Young Alumni Board. A citizen of the Choctaw Nation, Renley continues to study the legal realities of the Native American Nations as well as the other areas of Whitten Burrage’s practice. He has worked for Whitten Burrage since midsummer 2011.
Brooke Hamilton
Brooke Hamilton is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of Oklahoma, receiving her B.A. with distinction in History. Brooke graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2017 with distinction. While in law school, Brooke served as Articles Editor for the
American Indian Law Review and president of the Oklahoma International Law Society. Her article “Why Indigenous Peoples’ Property Rights Matter: Why the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples May Be Used to Condemn ISIS and the State of Iraq for Their Failure to Protect the Property Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Nineveh Plains” is published in Volume XI.I of the American Indian Law Review. Brooke was named the Oklahoma Bar Association Outstanding Senior Law Student, was a member of Phi Delta Phi honor society and was awarded the Lee B. Thomson Sr. Award, Katheleen Guzman Excellence Award, and the Joel Jankowsky Award. Brooke is the Chair of the Alumni Advisory and Pro Bono Board for the Center for International Business and Human Rights at the OU College of Law.
John B. Norman ― Of Counsel
John B. Norman, Of Counsel, was born in Norman, Oklahoma and admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 1988. He was admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. District Court, Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma. He received his B.A. from Baylor University in 1985 and his J.D., with distinction, in 1988. He was a member of the Phi Delta Phi Fraternity and recipient of the American Jurisprudence Awards in 1986 and 1987, and National Trial Team in 1987-1988. John is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, past president (2009) and member of the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Association for Justice, and the American Association for Justice.