Askins: Law Students have Place in Public Service
Photo of Lt. Governor Jari Askins speaking to OU Law Students from Jeff Riles via Twitter
Charles Ward/The Daily
Lt. Gov. Jari Askins said the critical thinking and problem-solving skills she learned while an OU law student have played big roles in her career.
Askins spoke Wednesday at the OU College of Law as part of a “Lunch and Learn” panel, which focused on how students and lawyers can use their degrees to work in local and national politics.
“Not everybody in the Legislature needs to be a lawyer, but I’m telling you, having legal experience when you’re writing laws is helpful,” said Askins, a former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. “Just think about it: You’re making laws and there are people who don’t even know what’s going to happen to the law or how it might be applied down the road.”
Askins said her life did not unfold as she had originally planned. She said she initially had no plans to go to law school while she earned her undergraduate degree in journalism at OU. Once she became a lawyer in 1980, she returned to her hometown of Duncan, with plans to work for an oil and gas firm there until she could get a job in oil and gas in Tulsa, which she said served as headquarters for several oil companies at that time.
However, Askins said, she received a call from a local judge asking her to consider an opening for special district judge.
“There went my plan to leave town in two years,” she said. “I realized if I moved to Tulsa, I wasn’t going to get a phone call from a judge asking me to take an appointment because no one knew me there.”
After eight years on the bench, Askins lost a bid for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, but received an appointment to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. She said her eight years on the bench allowed her to learn about her role on the board quickly.
Askins later ran again for the State House and won, and later was elected lieutenant governor. She is now running in Oklahoma’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. . .
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