Jim Priest

Mediator | Arbitrator | Attorney

Employment and Labor Law, Nonprofit, Civil Rights including Section 1983 cases, Insurance, Bad Faith, Negligence, Premises Liability

View Jim's Online Calendar or check preferred dates across our panel.
To schedule a mediation, please contact Angel: angel@drc-ok.com

Jim practiced as a trial attorney and external general counsel for a number of organizations in Central Oklahoma including private and public entities and universities. He developed and led the OBA Law of the Workplace annual seminar for 20 years and is a popular speaker and seminar leader.  Jim then pivoted from practicing law full time into leading three nonprofit organizations: FATE (Fighting Addiction Through Education), Sunbeam Family Services, and Goodwill Central Oklahoma.  He serves as a panel member with the American Arbitration Association, provides Executive Coaching through Strata Leadership, and volunteers for The Innocence Project, ReStore OKC and Martin Nature Center.

ADMITTED:

Oklahoma, 1980

U. S. District Court: Eastern, Northern and Western Districts of Oklahoma

U. S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

U. S. Supreme Court

AWARDS AND HONORS:

  • 2023 selected as 2023 Oklahoma Top 50 Power Leaders in Workplace Diversity

  • 2022 selected as "Top 10 Inspiring Leaders of 2022” by IE magazine

  • 2017 selected as a Most Admired CEO by The Journal Record business newspaper

  • 2014 Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium “Executive Pilot” Award for outstanding ethical leadership in the state of Oklahoma

  • Earl Sneed Award for Outstanding Contribution to Continuing Legal Education by Oklahoma Bar Association

  • Annually named in the publication The Best Lawyers in America

  • Annually named “Best of the Best” in Labor and Employment Law by Oklahoma Business Monthly magazine

  • Named a “Best Lawyer” by Corporate Counsel magazine  

  • Annually named a "Super Lawyer" by peer Oklahoma attorneys

  • Selected as a "Leader in the Law" by the Journal Record, Oklahoma City's business newspaper

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:

Oklahoma Bar Association

 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

  • Guest Columnist, ‘On The Job” in the Journal Record newspaper 2021- present

  • Weekly Columnist for the Oklahoman on family issues 1996-2006, 2016-2020

  • Weekly Sunday School teacher, Bible study leader, and occasional speaker at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene and other churches in the state.

  • Organizer and Presenter for 20 years: OBA Law of the Workplace seminar

  • Founder Oklahoma Life of An Athlete a substance abuse prevention education website and program

    https://www.okloa.org/

  • Goodwill Industries International, Board Member (retired)

  • Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, Former Board Member and President

  • Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene, Former Board Member

  • Variety Health Center, Former Board Member

  • Habitat for Humanity, Former Board Member

  • Marriage Network Oklahoma, Co-founder, www.marriagenetworkok.net

  • Butterfield Memorial Foundation Former Board Member

  • Leadership Oklahoma City Alumni Association Former Board Member

  • Founding Member and former board member Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium

  • Member Leadership Oklahoma, Leadership Oklahoma City and Leadership Edmond

  • KWTV News 9 frequent interview guest on substance abuse and marriage and family issues

  • Frequent author and speaker on substance abuse, workplace issues, ethics, marriage and family issues. 

 PUBLICATIONS:

The Lawyer as Employer:  Why Do They Keep Changing the Rules? GP Solo, a publication of the American Bar Association, Jan/Feb 2007, Volume 24, Number 1

How to Construct Your Own Successful Employment Case, A Handy Guide for the Practitioner, Oklahoma Bar Journal, Vol. 77, No. 9,  March 2006

Recent Developments in Oklahoma Class Action Law, University of Oklahoma Law Review, Volume 57, No. 4 (2005)

Watch Your Neck on White-Collar Exemption for Legal Assistants, Oklahoma Bar Journal, November 2004

Pro Bono Aid Needed Now More Than Ever, American Bar Association Journal, June 1996

The Shape of Things to Come, Oklahoma Bar Journal, Volume 68, No. 35, September 1997

Off Limits: Protect Your Employees from Harassment, Entrepreneur magazine, August 1998

After Acquired Evidence: Two Wrongs Can Make a Civil Right, Oklahoma Bar Journal, Vol. 66, No. 29, July 1995

Defending Police Misconduct Suits, AM JUR Trials, Volume 38, 1989

The Wake of Hinson v. Cameron: Choppy Waters for the Law of Wrongful Discharge, Oklahoma Bar Journal, Vol. 59  No. 40, October 1988

Employment Law. Oklahoma Police Chief Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 3 Summer 1986, Vol. 2 No. 1 Winter 1987

Defending Police Misconduct Suits, For the Defense magazine, August and September 1986

Oklahoma’s Bad Faith Evolution, Oklahoma Bar Journal, Vol. 56 No. 21, May 1985

Books

Leadership is an Inside Job, published 2022 Dorrance Publishing

More Than A Store, The History of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma, published 2021 with co-author Bob Burke, Oklahoma Hall of Fame Publishing

Changed Lives, The History of Sunbeam Family Services, published 2016 with co-author Bob Burke, Oklahoma Hall of Fame Publishing

What’s Your Fate? substance abuse in Oklahoma, published by Dustjacket 2012

Family Talk, a compilation of family advice newspaper columns originally published in the Oklahoman newspaper, published 1999

JIM PRIEST- AVAILABLE DATES CALENDAR

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