Dalton Downing (JD ’18) was recently honored as the most outstanding student of the year by The University of Tulsa College of Law. The honor, known as the Martin Fellows Smith Award, is selected by college faculty and presented at the college’s Hooding Ceremony.
Downing graduated from TU Law with highest honors and was selected for a bevy of awards including first place in the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni (ASECA) national writing competition with a paper titled “Picket Signs Versus Pocket Books: Using U.S. Securities Law to Compel Corporate Lobbying Disclosure”; Order of the Curule Chair awarded to students who have attained a minimum 3.5 GPA and rendered distinguished service to the university; the Oklahoma Bar Association Financial Institution and Commercial Law award and the Corporate and Business Law Award; and CALI Excellence for the Future Awards (highest scoring student) in: Civil Procedure I, Civil Procedure II, Constitutional Law II, Legal Writing III, Federal Indian Law, Remedies, Contracts, Business Transactions, Selling and Leasing of Goods and Corporate Law.
Raised on a working cattle ranch in northeastern Oklahoma, Downing attended Oklahoma State University on a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. While earning his B.S. in Agribusiness, he worked for the foundation, assisting low-income high school students with scholarships and college applications. He graduated with distinction as a Senior of Significance.
Downing talk about the educational environment at TU Law and his past summer externship.
During law school, Downing served as the editor-in-chief of the Tulsa Law Review and externed with Judge Stephanie Seymour of the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. He was also a Latham & Watkins Diversity Scholar and worked in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office the summer of his 2L year focusing on complex commercial litigation, private equity finance and mergers and acquisitions. After taking the bar exam, Downing will join Latham & Watkins as an associate.