Staff

StandingBear Law Office is committed to providing you with top notch legal support. We approach every client with a focus on integrity, advocacy, and understanding. We fight for you!

StandingBear Law Offices

Bartlesville
(918) 336-5900
Fax (918) 336-5907

Pawhuska
(918) 287-4700
Fax (918) 287-4711


TOLL FREE
1-877-287-4704

After working with famed Oklahoma criminal defense attorney John Echols, Mr. Standing Bear joined with another great attorney, Doug Parr in Oklahoma City. From there he began working with the Native Nations to reclaim their sovereign rights and territory. By 1982 he was a Supreme Court Justice of the Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma and General Counsel to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He then brought court cases which regained much that had been lost by the native governments. The 1985 victory for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation not only established the legality of Indian gaming in Oklahoma, but also re-established the concept of Indian lands under tribal jurisdiction (Indian country) in Eastern Oklahoma which was thought to have been abolished 100 years earlier. He brought another court case in Washington, D.C. which led to the re-establisment of tribal court systems among the Five Civilized Tribes. He has been an attorney for the Navajo Nation, Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, and several other native nations. Mr. Standing Bear was General Counsel to the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association during the period of Indian gaming expansion in Oklahoma from 2003 to 2009. Always preferring the court room Mr. Standing Bear has represented hundreds of clients in a broad range of contested cases, including groundbreaking federal litigation, First Degree Murder Death Penalty defense, several hundred divorce and child custody cases, and many civil and personal injury matters. He has participated in nearly 100 mediations, mostly from his representation of nursing homes in defense work. General Motors Corporation, Wal-Mart, State Farm Insurance, and BP Pipeline have all sought out Mr. Standing Bear as local counsel.

Mr. Standing Bear has been selected for inclusion into The Best Lawyer's In America for 2007 and 2008 and is a rated attorney in Martindale-Hubble. In 2008 he was a recipient of Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association "Warrior's Award" for lifetime achievement in Indian gaming.

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Sheryl Decker, Legal Assistant

Several attorneys have made reference to Sheryl Decker as the best paralegal they have known. Ms. Decker began working with Mr. Standing Bear in 1998 and has superior knowledge of legal procedure and client needs. Her familiarity with judicial and court clerk personnel and practice provides the client with confidence that the proceedings will be fair. For the client's legal needs outside of the courtroom Ms. Decker has a flair for making complex legal issues understandable not only to the client, but also to opposing attorneys and paralegals who sometimes try to confuse issues for reasons inconsistent with our client's best interests.