Mike Hunter was appointed Oklahoma Attorney General by Governor Mary Fallin on Feb. 20, 2017. He previously served as secretary of state and special legal counsel to the Governor from October 2016 until his appointment.
Hunter served as first assistant attorney general from June 2015 to October 2016, where he was the chief legal advisor to Attorney General Scott Pruitt and oversaw a staff of over 200 lawyers, law enforcement agents and support staff.
From 2010 to 2015, Hunter was the chief operating officer of the American Bankers Association (ABA), which represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the champion for the nation’s $13 trillion banking industry and its 2 million employees. In his role, Hunter managed government relations, regulatory, legal and communications activities for the ABA.
Prior to joining ABA, Hunter was secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office, a $4 billion public land and investment trust in Oklahoma. From 2002 through 2009, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Council of Life Insurers, the advocacy, legal and research arm of the life insurance industry.
From 1999 to 2002, Hunter served as Oklahoma’s secretary of state under Governor Frank Keating also acting as the governor’s chief liaison to the Legislature, the state judiciary and the state’s federal delegation.
Hunter was chief of staff to then-U.S. Rep. J. C. Watts Jr., of Oklahoma, from 1995 to 1999. His position involved the management of the congressman’s office in Washington, D.C., and district offices in Oklahoma. He also served as legal counsel to Watts in his work on the National Security Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in Congress.
In 1993 and 1994, Hunter served as general counsel of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the state regulatory authority for public utilities, oil and gas, transportation and pipelines. He has also taught political science as an adjunct professor at the University of Central Oklahoma and at the University of Oklahoma.
While in private practice as an energy and real estate lawyer, Hunter served as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives for six years. In 1988, he was one of eight lawmakers recognized by The Oklahoman as “Oklahoma’s Best Legislators.”
Hunter received his law degree from the University of Oklahoma and his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University. He is married to Cheryl Plaxico Hunter, and they have two sons, Barrett and Brock.
Suzanne Mitchell began serving on the bench as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Oklahoma on February 1, 2013. She authors over one hundred orders and reports annually, handles numerous pretrial felony proceedings, presides over the Department of Veteran Affairs Central Violations Bureau Court and manages busy prisoner and social security appeal dockets. She is actively involved in Court governance, chairing the district’s Criminal Justice Act Panel Selection Committee, where she drafted a new Criminal Justice Act Plan, the first substantive overhaul for the district. The new plan updates and amends the Court’s plan to ensure indigent defendants the highest quality representation. She also serves on the Court Assisted Recovery Court, a federal reentry court that provides an intensive, treatment-focused program to assist recently released nonviolent offenders to reintegrate into society.
She is currently President of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. There, she developed and chairs that Chapter’s Mentoring Program, connecting experienced attorneys with law students. She chaired and serves on the national FBA’s Bench/Bar Relations Committee and has served on the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. She has been named a Master of the William J. Holloway American Inn of Court, and serves as President-Elect, to become President-Elect in 2017-18. In addition, she co-chairs Rotary Club 29’s Open World Legal Scholars Committee, which assists in the coordination and planning of legal education visits sponsored by the Open World Leadership Center. She is a regular presenter for the various continuing legal education programs, volunteers for judging mock trials, moot courts, coordinating externships in chambers, and many additional civic education and local arts programs.
Her professional public service experience includes her award-receiving representation of the United States in over sixty criminal and civil matters as an appellate practitioner at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Oklahoma. She is uniquely well-versed in the nuances of the United States Sentencing Guidelines, having argued and briefed numerous cases involving them. She has also worked as Senior Law Clerk for former U.S. Tenth Circuit Judge Robert H. Henry, and in the corporate and securities department of McAfee & Taft’s Oklahoma City office.
A graduate from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, she also studied at the London School of Economics. She earned her law degree with high honors from George Washington University, where she was awarded Order of the Coif, served as an editor on its Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board.
She has served as the Oklahoma State Chair for the Georgetown University Alumni Admission Program since 2009. A graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City, she chaired the statewide Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition for three years, and served on its Board for seven years. She has also served on the boards of various nonprofits, including the RedBud Classic and Safekids Oklahoma.
A slow but enduring runner, she and her husband Sam Fulkerson have four nearly grown-but- not -yet-launched children and are members of Corpus Christi Catholic Church.