Don G. Pope

Mr. Pope is a native of Oklahoma having been born in Purcell. He graduated Oklahoma University in 1974 majoring in history with a minor in political science. He attended law school at Oklahoma City University and graduated in 1977. While attending OCU he served as an intern at the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office and subsequently with a major personal injury attorney in Oklahoma City.  After graduation he went into private practice for a period of time and then became an Assistant District Attorney in Okmulgee in the Child Support Enforcement Division. From there he transferred to the District Attorney's Office in McAlester. In 1984 he became the General Counsel for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and served in that position until 1992. He has been in private practice in Norman since that time. In his private practice he continues to represent two of the privately owned prisons in the state of Oklahoma and contracts for services with two others. He maintains an active practice in the Norman area representing clients in personal injury, bankruptcy, general civil litigation, civil rights defense, family law, probate, estate planning, business law and criminal law. Mr. Pope served as chair of the Government Practice and Administrative Law section of the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1991 and is currently appointed to the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System board.  He currently serves as Secretary for the Cleveland County Bar Assocation.  He was chair of Law Day Activities in 2009 for which the CCBA won the prestigous Hicks-Epton Award for the best Law Day program in Oklahoma.  Mr. Pope is currently the Law Day Chair for 2010 and has been requested to make a presentation to the Solo and Small Firm Conference of the Oklahoma Bar Association in June 2010 in the area of Law Practice Management.

Jacob M. Benedict

Jacob Benedict specializes in criminal legal defense, appellate practice, expungements, and family law in Oklahoma City and Norman, as an attorney with Don G. Pope & Associates.@ Prior to joining the firm in January 2011, Jacob served as a felony attorney with the Oklahoma County Public Defender’s Office. As a public defender, Jacob practiced under many of Oklahoma’s preeminent criminal defense attorneys, where he served as legal defense counsel on cases ranging from non-violent felony cases to First Degree Murder. His tenure as a public defender provided Jacob with invaluable experience in negotiation, appellate practice, and as a trial lawyer.@ He continues to assist the public defender as a conflict attorney for Murder cases, and as a court appointed attorney in certain cases.@ Mr. Benedict is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma, and the United States Federal District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma.

Jacob is a graduate of Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in History, and received his J.D. law degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law, graduating summa cum laude. While a law student, he held two successful internships at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, and with Don G. Pope & Associates, providing a solid foundation for his future legal practice. A native Midwesterner, Jacob was born and raised in the farm country of southwest Iowa. He enjoys spending his free time with family, golfing, and working in his yard.@ Jacob and his wife have been married since 2001, and have a beautiful daughter.

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L. Wayne Edgar

 

Originally from Sulphur, Oklahoma, Mr. Edgar now resides in Norman with his wife and three children. His broad legal practice includes Intellectual Property, design and construction law, recreation law, business law, environmental law, bankruptcy, estate planning, Social Security benefits, and family law
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He graduated from OCU law school Cum Laude, was Managing Editor of Law Review, a merit scholar, Phi Delta Phi, and he was selected for the Excellence in Native American Internship award. His published student Note developed a legal theory that won a Federal Summary Judgment to protect Oklahoma water from confiscation by out of state entities. He worked as an intern for an Intellectual Property law firm and at the Native American Legal Resource Center. Mr. Edgar holds an MBA in management and economics from the University of Texas at Arlington which focused on corporate strategic advantage.
 
He holds a BS from the OU College of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering where he researched everything from Black Holes to groundwater. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer who has designed freeways, bridges, traffic flow systems, airports, commercial developments, environmental cleanup projects, parks, and wetlands. Clients included governments, NASA, US Nuclear Regulatory Comm., Dept. of Homeland Security, private developers, and Indian tribes. Mr. Edgar also served as Chairman of the TxDOT Dallas Young Engineers Group and was given the Salt and Light award from First Baptist Dallas.
A strong believer in volunteering and serving others, he volunteers for church and house building mission trips to slums in Mexico and to the elderly and poor in Dallas, he designed a bridge for schoolchildren to safely traverse the Zambezi River in Nairobi, Kenya, and he served on an engineering team drafting infrastructure plans for post-Taliban Afghanistan. Mr. Edgar also volunteers for Trout Unlimited, Bicycle League of Norman, and his local church. 
 
In his spare time, he enjoys cycling, flyfishing, painting, Kung Fu, and plays violin, clarinet, piano, and guitar.
Wayne operates three informative legal websites:
 
OkRecreationLaw.com
OkDesign-ConstLaw.com
OkBusinessLaw.com
 
Select Research and Papers:
Invasion or Commerce: Interstate Water Transfers from Oklahoma
Case Comment: EPA v. Massachusetts
Large Corporate Business Strategy
Impacts of Political Parties on the U.S. Economy
Small Business Start-up Strategy and Planning
Establishing Business Ventures in Morocco
Economic Comparisons of OK and TX
Investment in Silver
Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei
Groundwater Circulation at Nuclear Disposals Sites
B1 Bombers in National Defense Policy
Design of High Performance Corporate Jets
Laser Holography Nondestructive Material Testing
Design of Document Processor Rollers
ZR Corvette Suspension Design