July 10, 2026 | GableGotwals Shareholder Graydon D. Luthey, Jr., recently presented at the Oklahoma Judicial Conference, an annual educational program attended by the Justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judges of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, Judges of the Oklahoma district courts, and their law clerks.

At this year’s conference, Dean delivered two presentations: The Intersection of Substantive Rights and Process and Abuse of Judicial Discretion and How to Avoid It.

Dean was educated at Casady School, the University of Oklahoma, and Keble College, University of Oxford. He has practiced extensively before courts and agencies in commercial, energy, public law, and Native American law matters, including oral argument before the United States Supreme Court, the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and other federal and state appellate courts.

Dean is an elected Life Member of the American Law Institute, a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a General Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law. He has served as the presiding judge of a temporary division of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, an adjunct professor of law at The University of Tulsa College of Law, president of a Tulsa American Inn of Court, president of the Northeastern Oklahoma Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. He currently serves on the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s Committee on Judicial Elections.

The Oklahoma Judicial Conference provides continuing legal education for Oklahoma’s judiciary and invites judges and experienced practitioners to present on legal issues selected by conference organizers.

About GableGotwals

GableGotwals® is a full-service law firm with more than 100 attorneys and 70 other business professionals in Oklahoma and Texas. We represent a diversified client base across the nation, and our connections and reach are global. Fortune 500 corporations, privately owned companies, entrepreneurs, foundations, and individuals entrust us every day with the stewardship and strategic management of their legal challenges.

October 31, 2025 | The Oklahoma Supreme Court recently affirmed a favorable decision obtained by GableGotwals on behalf of the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) in a significant public utility case. Public utility OG&E and the Firm’s clients entered into long-term special contracts by which OG&E would provide large-load electric service to the new Cherokee Nation Hospital and the new Cherokee Nation Businesses’ casino in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The clients’ properties are located within the exclusive service area of a rural co-op, Lake Region Electric Cooperative, Inc. Desiring to serve the Firm’s clients at higher rates than OG&E, the co-op sued for injunctive relief against OG&E. The utility asserted the statutory large-load exception in defense of its contracts. GableGotwals, on behalf of the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses, intervened and objected on equitable grounds of laches, waiver, estoppel, and unclean hands as to the co-op’s claim for injunctive relief.

The OCC had previously found the large-load exception unavailable to OG&E in similar circumstances. Applying the laches defense raised by the Firm’s clients, the OCC Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) denied the co-op’s requested injunction. The co-op then appealed to the OCC en banc. After oral argument, the OCC ruled in favor of the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses on all of their equitable defenses and denied the injunction.

Following the OCC’s ruling, the co-op appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. In a published opinion, the Court affirmed the OCC’s final order in favor of the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses, saving the clients tens of millions of dollars in increased electricity charges.

GableGotwals Shareholder and Co-chair of the Firm’s Native American Practice Group, Dean Luthey, tried the case before the OCC ALJ, argued the appeal before the OCC en banc, and wrote the appellate brief in the Supreme Court. Dean is a 45-year litigator who has been recognized repeatedly by his peers and clients for his litigation experience, including in commercial and Native American law.

About GableGotwals’ Native American and Gaming Practice

Native American law is a unique practice area involving the sovereign status of Indian tribes. GableGotwals’ attorneys recognize these unique issues and offer a broad range of experience. Our attorneys provide expertise in legal disputes, including commercial law, business and transactional ventures, gaming issues, governmental relations, environmental areas, administrative practice, environmental concerns, land and water rights, and litigation matters. GableGotwals’ attorneys have successfully represented Native American tribes, their leaders, vendors, and commercial organizations in federal, state, and tribal courts as well as before administrative agencies, and have successfully argued on behalf of Indian rights before the United States Supreme Court. GableGotwals’ Native American Practice Group is ranked Band 1 in Oklahoma by Chambers and Partners. Click here to read more.

About GableGotwals

GableGotwals® is a full-service law firm with more than 100 attorneys and 70 other business professionals in Oklahoma and Texas. We represent a diversified client base across the nation, and our connections and reach are global. Fortune 500 corporations, privately owned companies, entrepreneurs, foundations, and individuals entrust us every day with the stewardship and strategic management of their legal challenges.

October 28, 2025 | Benchmark Litigation, a guide that provides analysis of commercial and financial litigators and law firms in the United States, named GableGotwals a “Highly Recommended” law firm for Dispute Resolution in Oklahoma.

In addition, 14 attorneys were recognized as 2026 “Litigation Stars,” six of whom were newly named. Two attorneys were newly recognized as 2026 “Future Stars,” and three were named to the Oklahoma “40 & Under List – South” for 2025.

Oklahoma 2026 Benchmark Litigation: Oklahoma Attorneys
Ellen A. Adams Oklahoma Future Star	David L. Bryant United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star Insurance, Securities, Environmental, Energy
Jeffrey A. Curran United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star	Craig A. Fitzgerald Oklahoma Litigation Star Insurance, Dispute Resolution, Energy
Amelia A. Fogleman United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star	Jake Krattiger Oklahoma, 40 & Under List – South (2025) Commercial, Energy
Lance Leffel Oklahoma Future Star	Justin A. Lollman Oklahoma, 40 & Under List – South (2025) Dispute Resolution
Graydon Dean Luthey, Jr. United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star Securities, Commercial, Native American, Energy	Robert G. McCampbell United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star
Nick Merkley United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star Competition/Antitrust, Product Liability, Energy	Barrett L. Powers Oklahoma, 40 & Under List – South (2025) Dispute Resolution
Rob F. Robertson United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star Product Liability and Recall, Commercial, Energy	Trent Shores United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star
Leasa M. Stewart Oklahoma Litigation Star Labor and Employment, Commercial	Amy M. Stipe United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star Insurance, Commercial, Oil and Gas
Sidney K. Swinson United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star	Chris S. Thrutchley, SHRM-SCP United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star
Jay P. Walters United States (National), Oklahoma Litigation Star

About GableGotwals
GableGotwals® is a full-service law firm with more than 100 attorneys and 70 other business professionals in Oklahoma and Texas. We represent a diversified client base across the nation, and our connections and reach are global. Fortune 500 corporations, privately owned companies, entrepreneurs, foundations, and individuals entrust us every day with the stewardship and strategic management of their legal challenges.

May 13, 2025 | Tulsa GableGotwals Shareholder, Graydon D. Luthey, Jr., has become an elected life member of the American Law Institute (ALI). Elected members, chosen from judges, law professors and practicing lawyers, work to advance the ALI’s role as the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize and otherwise improve the law. The ALI draft, discuss, revise, and publish Restatements of Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law that are enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education. Election of members results from a confidential nomination and vetting process.

Elected members become elected life members after 25 years of service to the ALI. Professor Joseph Thai of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and Of Counsel to GableGotwals, serves as an elected member of the ALI.

Oklahoma has seven elected lawyer members who are in private practice, of whom five are elected life members.

About GableGotwals

GableGotwals® is a full-service law firm with nearly 100 attorneys and more than 70 other business professionals in Oklahoma and Texas. We represent a diversified client base across the nation, and our connections and reach are global. Fortune 500 corporations, privately owned companies, entrepreneurs, foundations, and individuals entrust us every day with the stewardship and strategic management of their legal challenges.

On December 9, 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court, by unanimous vote of all justices participating, confirmed GableGotwals’ summary judgment victory obtained for its client David Qualls in a multi-million dollar lawsuit brought against him by the Peoria Tribe of Indians.

A company owned in part by Mr. Qualls managed the Tribe’s casino. When external forces caused a decline in casino cash flow, an external CPA and lawyer, according to the Tribe, devised and implemented a casino accounting change that resulted in five million in additional cash flow to the Tribe and increased the company’s management fee by a substantially lesser amount.

The Tribe sued Mr. Qualls in an Oklahoma State District Court in Shawnee, alleging that through the accounting change, Mr. Qualls embezzled, committed fraud, breached fiduciary duties, was liable for four other related claims, and owed the Tribe a $2 million fine previously imposed by the Tribe’s gaming commission. After all the discovery was completed and two oral arguments held, the District Court found that the fine was unconstitutional and that all of the Tribe’s claims failed as a matter of law. Summary judgment was awarded to Mr. Qualls.

The Tribe appealed. The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals rejected all of the Tribe’s arguments and unanimously affirmed the summary judgment against the Tribe. The Tribe then filed a petition for certiorari seeking discretionary review by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied the petition, thereby making the judgment in favor of the Firm’s client final.