The Seminole County Bar Association has announced that Chief Justice Dustin P. Rowe and Attorney General Gentner Drummond will speak at its annual Law Day continuing legal education seminar (CLE) on April 29.

Every year, the Seminole County Bar Association, with the support of the Hughes County Bar Association, puts on a Law Day celebration at the Seminole County Courthouse. As part of the annual event, the Seminole County Bar Association also hosts a luncheon at Hargrave Community Hall.

This year, the President of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Amber Peckio, will be the keynote speaker at the annual Law Day Luncheon. Additional speakers throughout the day will include General Counsel of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Gina Hendryx, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association, Janet Johnson, and Edmond attorney, Kieran D. Maye. Oklahoma Supreme Court Justices, Court of Criminal Appeals Judges, Court of Civil Appeals Judges, the Attorney General, area Judges, and other dignitaries will be in attendance. Attorneys from across the State of Oklahoma will also be in attendance.

The public is invited to attend, although there is a charge for the luncheon. Tickets can be purchased from District Judge Brett W. Butner, 120 South Wewoka Ave., 2nd Floor, Wewoka, Oklahoma, 74884. RSVP for same-day purchase may be made to Jessie Morgan at (405)257-3386. An RSVP must be received in advance as there are a limited number of tickets available.

Seminole County and the City of Wewoka have a special connection to “Law Day,” a celebration observed nationwide around May 1 of every year. The idea of “Law Day” originated in Wewoka by the late Hicks Epton, a well-known local and state lawyer. Epton and the Seminole County Bar Association founded a “Know Your Court – Know Your Liberties” program in Wewoka on May 1, 1946, to pay tribute to the American system of justice and counterbalance communist celebrations held annually on that day.

In 1948, Epton and other members of the Seminole County Bar Association hosted a special “Oklahoma Lawyers’ Forum” in Wewoka. The event was so well received by overflow crowd of 150 Rotary and Lions Club members, attorneys and other civic leaders that similar programs were conducted before large crowds in Ada, Ardmore and Lawton. Epton then promoted a celebration of Law Day at the University of Oklahoma in 1949, where it became an annual event and evolved into a statewide celebration by the Oklahoma Bar Association.

The collaboration gained national recognition in 1954 by the Freedom Foundation. Since 1957, the American Bar Association has sponsored “Law Day” as a special day. That same year, Congress and President Eisenhower, by presidential proclamation, set aside “Law Day” to celebrate our liberties each year. Since that time, local judges and attorneys of the Seminole County Bar Association have maintained the tradition in Seminole County.