OCU Law has long been known for producing public servants. OCU Law graduates have become elected officials, judges, prosecutors and public defenders. They hold leadership positions in government agencies, nonprofits and advocacy groups.
Dean David Holt, a 2009 OCU Law graduate, is himself an example of this ethos, having served as an Oklahoma Senator and currently as Mayor of Oklahoma City. Since taking his position at OCU Law in 2023, Dean Holt has emphasized the school’s identity as a place that produces lawyers with a heart for service.
As a representation of this, Dean Holt now displays a portrait in his office of OCU Law alumnus Rick Rescorla, who gave his life on September 11, 2001, to save thousands of people at the World Trade Center in New York. The walls of Dean Holt’s office also display many Oklahoma City institutions where students may serve, such as the State Capitol, the Oklahoma Supreme Court and City Hall. Dean Holt has also pursued programming to further engage students with career options in public service. The upcoming launch of the Inasmuch Center for Public Service is one example.
Another example is the launch of the Clinton-Keating Lecture earlier this year, which is intended to join the Quinlan and Brennan lectures as annual events at OCU Law. The Clinton-Keating Lecture will annually feature lawyers in public service.
The Clinton-Keating Lecture is named for former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who received his J.D. from Yale University; and former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who received his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma. Though the two represented different political parties,
President Clinton and Governor Keating worked together in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing, which occurred in 1995 two blocks away from OCU Law’s current home.
Fittingly, the inaugural Clinton-Keating Lecture on April 19, 2025, featured its namesakes. That afternoon, OCU Law was deeply honored to host President Clinton and Governor Keating for a fireside chat in McLaughlin Hall. It was the first time a U.S. President had ever visited OCU Law.
Dean Holt moderated an hourlong conversation with President Clinton and Governor Keating for approximately 500 students, faculty, staff and other friends of OCU Law. Three students were also invited to ask questions: SBA President Alexis Garner; Murrah Student Association President Emily Hurt; and Sumners Scholar Rilee Sloan, in collaboration with fellow Sumners Scholars Jay Hitt and Natalie Kinder.
“It was an incredible day for our school, and we were so grateful that President Clinton and
Governor Keating would share their valuable time with our students,” said Dean Holt. “I have no doubt that the experience will serve to inspire our students to consider the ways that lawyers can serve the public.”
President Clinton, Governor Keating and Dean Holt all spoke earlier that day at the 30th annual Remembrance Ceremony held near the site of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. At the Lecture, President Clinton and Governor Keating spoke of their experiences from that terrible day in 1995, and the response that followed. They also spoke about their choices to attend law school, and the first time they met as undergraduate students at Georgetown University. They also commented about bipartisanship, the civil liberty tensions in homeland security law, the need to build trust in government institutions, and the way they utilized their training as lawyers in their public service life.
Dean Holt presented President Clinton and Governor Keating with engraved glass commemorations for their visit, and wearing his mayoral hat, he presented them with Keys to the City.
The George Kaiser Family Foundation generously sponsored the event.
The law school’s first visit from a President was a memorable one, and in Dean’s Holt office now sits a chair with a small plaque on the back – the chair President Clinton sat in during the event.
