I have devoted my entire career to the law, working to find justice on both sides of the bench. After coming to Norman to study at the University of Oklahoma, I started as an attorney working in civil litigation with Ward & Glass. I was fortunate to work with and, more importantly, learn from, Stan Ward and Woody Glass about how to fight for people who have been wronged, present your best case in the courtroom, and practice law with integrity and grace. Stan and Woody trusted me to handle my cases and to do a lot of research and writing for all sorts of cases for the firm. My areas of practice involved employment discrimination, as well as civil rights and negligence matters, and I was the principal appellate attorney for the firm as well. I worked for Ward & Glass for almost fifteen years until I decided to start my own practice, opening Brockman Law, PLLC in 2016. I mostly continued to handle the same type of cases as I did for Ward & Glass and learned even more about what it took to run a successful business and still take care of your clients.
Running my own firm was rewarding, and I was blessed to find some success, but in 2018, the opportunity opened for me to become a judge and look at cases from a different perspective. I was fortunate that Judge Thad Balkman and the other district judges appointed me to be a Special Judge in Cleveland County. I handled almost every type of case while on the bench, presiding over small claims cases, victim protective order cases, collection matters, and arraignments, as well as taking care of felony magistrate duties. I presided over several civil trials and handled civil settlement conferences. Most of my time was spent on misdemeanors and traffic cases since I was assigned half of all of those filed during my entire time on the bench. I was the judge on jury and non-jury criminal trials and was tasked with working with attorneys and, often, the defendants themselves in shepherding their cases to some kind of conclusion. I also had the honor to preside over Wellness Court, a diversion court for defendants with mental health diagnoses. These diversion courts are important and valuable to help those who are criminally involved grow and change so that they can be rehabilitated and develop into successful, productive members of society.
After eight and a half years of being a judge, I realized that I missed helping people directly with the legal issues they may face. I decided to step down from the bench and return to private practice, and I’m excited to rejoin Woody, this time with his partner Geoffrey Tabor, with Glass & Tabor, in an “Of Counsel” basis. I would consider myself a jack of all trades and look forward to working with all the attorneys at the firm, handling all types of cases. I’m also looking to build a mediation practice to assist others in resolving their legal disputes. I have always seen the value of mediating and negotiating a pending case, since many cases are resolved in that way, and I was fortunate to find success in settling cases as a settlement conference judge.
I’m blessed to have great family support, and they are obviously the most important thing in my life. I met my wife, Dawn, in law school, and we have two kids, Ainsley and Finn. Dawn works as Dean of Students at the University of Sciences and Arts in Chickasha and is on the Norman School Board. My kids are off in different parts of the country having their own adventures, and I’m supremely proud of the people they are becoming. I enjoy watching all sorts of sports and try to get out on the tennis court as often as I can. I also enjoy going to movies and hanging out with my family whether we are traveling or just getting together to eat a good meal and laugh as much as possible.
Education
- University of Oklahoma, College of Law
- J.D. – 2002
- University of Oklahoma
- B.A. – 1999
- Major in Political Science
Bar Admissions
- Oklahoma, 2002
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma
- U.S. Circuit Court, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals