The Oklahoma Bar Journal May 2023

Left: Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. “Putting shrubs in place Thursday for the Friday dedication of the Oklahoma Bar Center, south of the state Capitol, is Robert G. Burrows, left, landscape architect.” Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society. Right: Photograph used for a story in The Daily Oklahoman newspaper. “Hundreds of lawyers from all over the state were on hand for the official opening of the Oklahoma Bar Association's new $300,000 Bar Center on Lincoln Boulevard south of the state Capitol building.” Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.

makes a voluntary and sustained commitment to supporting the OBF in a specified dollar amount. The program was launched with 91 attorneys as founding Fellows. When the OBF announced the program, OBF President Joe Stamper of Antlers recognized it would not only provide funds for legal charitable projects in Oklahoma but would also give attorneys a way to fulfill their pro fessional responsibilities under the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct. He said, “Many believe that lawyers have an inherent responsibility to give back to the community, and especially to provide legal services to the poor.” Being an OBF Partner was a way to do just that. Attorneys could

support legal education projects, such as its initial funding of the OBA Young Lawyers High School Mock Trial Program and its estab lishment of the Chapman-Rogers Education Fund, which, through interest earned from the careful investment of the $226,000 prin cipal, currently provides a $2,500 scholarship every year to one student from each of Oklahoma’s three law schools. Soon after this, OBF Trustees produced an idea to raise aware ness of the foundation among Oklahoma attorneys and raise funds at the same time. In 1978, the OBF created the Fellows Program, now called the Partners for Justice Program, where an individual Oklahoma attorney

An investment account was

opened at Liberty Bank in Oklahoma City on Dec. 3, 1969. The Trustees also realized they could not rely solely on irregular donations to pay for projects. Thankfully, a new infusion of funds came in the form of a charitable trust established by Tulsa philanthropist Leta McFarlin Chapman in 1969 and a later bequest to the OBF in her will. Through Ms. Chapman’s generous gifts, the OBF received $126,000 from pay ments made from the trust during her lifetime and $100,000 from her estate after she died in 1974. Individual planned gifts like those of Ms. Chapman have proven to be a crucial factor in the foundation’s growth. The Chapman gift enabled the OBF to

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL