In Tim's 26 years as a lawyer, he has primarily focused his practice in the areas of insurance defense, personal injury, and workers compensation. He is a past board member of the Oklahoma Association of Defense Counsel. He is a graduate of the Defense Research Institute Trial Academy. He is certified as a mediator with the State of Oklahoma.
Tim was born in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1961. He attended Westville and Muskogee Schools, where he held several class offices, including student council president. He graduated from Muskogee High in 1980. He then attended Oklahoma State University, was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, and graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in 1984.
He worked his way through law school at the University of Tulsa. As a law student, his contributions to Tulsa's Law School Newspaper won a national law school journalism award. He was an Articles Editor of Tulsa Law School's Energy Law Journal. As a third year law student he interned for Tulsa County District Attorney David Moss and tried non-jury matters in the juvenile system. After graduating with a Juris Doctor degree in 1990, he immediately passed the Oklahoma Bar and began practicing law in Tulsa. He has resided in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma for the past 23 years, where his children attended school.
He has tried in excess of 100 jury trials throughout Oklahoma. Before coming to work for Smiling, Smiling & Burgess, he was senior trial attorney for Farmers Insurance Company's Tulsa Branch Legal Office. Prior to his 16 years with Farmers, he worked for insurance defense firms Steidley & Neal, a McAlester based firm, and Paulk & Gravis, a Tulsa based firm. Tim is admitted to practice in all state courts in Oklahoma as well as the Eastern, Northern and Western District of Oklahoma Federal Courts.
Tim's areas of practice are personal injury litigation, premises liability and insurance defense.