Jimmy Goodman is a senior trial attorney and past president at Crowe & Dunlevy. Since 1973, Jimmy has specialized in high-stakes business litigation, product claims and disputes involving tribal compacts, economic development, gaming enterprises and federal Indian law. Jimmy has tried cases before state, federal, bankruptcy and tribal courts representing individuals, small businesses, and Native American Nations, along with Fortune 500 companies.
Jimmy has successfully represented Indian Nations in significant compact litigation with the state of Oklahoma—saving one nation several million dollars on a tobacco compact renewal dispute and defeating Oklahoma’s efforts to unlawfully tax tribally-supported sales transactions on tribal lands.
In other cases, Jimmy saved his client millions of dollars by preventing the Department of Justice’s novel attempt at using “statistical sampling” in a Medicare fraud case to prove damages for unsampled claims; successfully defended the trial court’s summary dismissal of a seven-figure life insurance bad faith claim seeking punitive damages; and persuaded the Oklahoma Supreme Court to grant the rare reversal of an arbitration award.
Jimmy was named Oklahoma City Lawyer of the year for Gaming Law in 2014 and 2016, for Litigation – Real Estate in 2017 and 2019, for Native American law in 2018 and 2020, and for Litigation – Banking and Finance in 2021 by Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession.* He has also been ranked in Chambers USA Band 3 in 2017, named a 2015 – 2018 Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation and recognized in Oklahoma Super Lawyers in several specialty areas, including the Top 50 Oklahoma Super Lawyers list for 2018.*
At the Oklahoma Bar Association meeting in November, 2022, Jimmy will be receiving the OBA Joe Stamper Distinguished Service Award for long time service to the bar association or contribution to the legal profession. In 2009, he received the William G. Paul Oklahoma Justice Award, conferred annually by Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. on behalf of Oklahoma’s justice community for commitment to “the American promise of equal justice for all.” Jimmy was the recipient of the OBA John E. Shipp Award for Ethics in 2006. That same year, the Oklahoma County Bar Association presented him with both the Leadership in Law Award for service to the legal profession, especially toward increasing diversity and pro bono service, and its highest award, the Bobby G. Knapp Bar Leadership Award for sustained leadership, distinguished by stewardship and professionalism reflecting the highest values of the legal community. He is a former President of the Oklahoma County Bar Association and the Oklahoma Bar Foundation, and served for many years on the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Uniform Civil Jury Instructions Committee.
Jimmy is actively engaged in professional, community and philanthropic activities:
- American Bar Association (ABA) Board of Governors (2013 – 2016)
- ABA Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence
- ABA House of Delegates, Oklahoma Delegate (2005 – 2013) and Oklahoma County Bar Delegate (1996 – 2005)
- ABA Task Force on Human Trafficking, co-chair (2012 – 2014)
- Served on the Council of, and held numerous positions of leadership in, the ABA Litigation Section
- Served on the ABA’s Council on Racial and Ethnic Justice, Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Commission on Hispanic Rights and Responsibilities
- American Bar Foundation (ABF), Board of Directors and Treasurer
- Fellows of the ABF, past chair
- Co-chaired the ABF fund to create the foundation’s first endowed research chair for diversity and law
- Long-time fundraiser, volunteer attorney, and board member for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma
- Past President and long-time Counsel to Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma
- Founding board member of Citizens League of Central Oklahoma, Myriad Gardens Foundation and Central Oklahoma Childbirth Education Association
Jimmy is especially proud to have been among the team of volunteers that drafted the Mission Statement for the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
Jimmy received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1971, where he served on the Stanford Law Review. He received a B.A. from University of Oklahoma in 1968.
*Crowe & Dunlevy has no input in the rating methodologies used by Best Lawyers, Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation or Oklahoma Super Lawyers.
