In Photo: OBF Trustees and staff members meeting at the Mabee Foundation, from left, Martha Cordell, Andy Shank, retired Judge Thomas Brett, Mabee Foundation Vice Chairman Raymond Tullius Jr., Tom Vincent II, OBF ED Renée DeMoss and Candice Jones.

The Oklahoma Bar Foundation is proud to be the recipient of a $10,000 tribute gift from the Mabee Foundation in honor of retired federal Judge Thomas R. Brett.  Judge Brett, a former Trustee of both the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and the Mabee Foundation, is highly regarded for his standards of excellence and dedication to ethics in the legal profession.

Judge Brett graduated from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma Law School with a B.B.A. in 1953, an LL.B in 1957, and a J.D. in 1971.  He served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, attended the Army Command and General Staff College, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and the Air Force Air War College, and is a retired colonel of the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps.  Judge Brett began his legal career as an Assistant Tulsa County Attorney, and during his years as a civil trial lawyer, was named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  In 1979, he was appointed to serve as a United States District Judge in the Northern District of Oklahoma, serving as Chief Judge from 1994 – 1996, and retiring in 2003 after 24 years on the bench.  Judge Brett subsequently became a recognized expert in arbitration and mediation.  He is a Past President of both the Tulsa County Bar Association and the Oklahoma Bar Association, and has been honored with numerous awards in the areas of ethics, legal excellence, and professionalism throughout his life.

Judge Brett has worked closely with the Mabee Foundation for 40 years, serving as a Trustee for 18 of those years. The Mabee Foundation is a private non-profit entity established in 1948 by the late John E. and Lottie Mabee of Tulsa.  The Foundation supports charitable organizations, religious organizations, institutions of higher learning, hospitals and other general charitable entities in the southwest United States.

Thank you, Judge Brett, for your many years of dedication and service to the legal profession, the state of Oklahoma and our nation. We wish you all the best!