The University of Tulsa is pleased to announce this year’s College of Law Hall of Fame inductees: Neil E. Bogan (J.D. ’70), Katherine G. Coyle (J.D. ’72), John F. Heil III (J.D. ’94), Kathryn A. LaFortune (J.D. ’83, M.A. ’94, Ph.D. ’97) and William D. LaFortune Sr. (J.D. ’83). The 2026 inductees were honored at the College of Law Gala and Hall of Fame Ceremony on Friday, April 10, at Southern Hills Country Club.
This annual event not only honors inductees but also lays a groundwork for future generations of legal professionals, paying tribute to the determination of pioneers who have paved the way, leaving a lasting positive imprint on society. Here is a closer look at this year’s honorees.
Neil E. Bogan (posthumously)
Neil Bogan was posthumously awarded the Legacy in Law award.
Bogan graduated from Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa and went on receive his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma. He attended UTulsa College of Law, earning his Juris Doctor in 1970. Bogan married his high school sweetheart, Carolyn Martin (now Carolyn Gill), in Sharp Chapel, and the couple had three children, Tiffany, Tyler and Tadd, as well as five grandchildren.
Bogan began his legal career with Jones, Givens, Gotcher & Doyle, now Jones, Gotcher & Bogan, in 1970 and quickly became an officer and shareholder of the firm. Specializing in business law, he earned a remarkable reputation for excellence and integrity in the courtroom and the boardroom. Bogan served as president of the Tulsa County Bar Association from 1987 to 1988. He was the president of the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1990. In addition to serving on the boards of several corporations, Bogan served as a trustee of UTulsa from 1989 until his death on May 5, 1990.
As a testament to his legacy, the Oklahoma Bar Association created the Neil E. Bogan Professionalism Award in his honor, and the Lady of Justice statute at the bar center bears his name. There is also an endowed scholarship at UTulsa Law in Bogan’s name. His list of professional awards and achievements is nearly as long as the list of friends he left behind.
Katherine G. Coyle
Kathie Coyle was awarded the Benjamin P. Abney Cor Legis Award.
Coyle has been described as the “grande dame” or “fairy godmother” of nonprofit law in Tulsa. She has practiced at Conner & Winters LLP for many years, devoting her practice to nonprofit law and estate planning.
Growing up in Tulsa, she received her bachelor’s degree from Hollins University and her Juris Doctor from UTulsa Law. Her life was profoundly shaped when she clerked for William J. Holloway Jr., a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, serving as his first female clerk. After her clerkship, she earned her LL.M. in taxation from New York University, where only four women were enrolled in a class of about 160. She honed her skills at Pepper Hamilton & Scheetz in Philadelphia and Ray Quinney & Nebeker in Salt Lake City before returning to Tulsa, where her husband, John, began his cardiology practice at St. John Medical Center.
Coyle represents large foundations and other “do good” organizations across the spectrum. She finds that practice particularly rewarding because people are thinking beyond themselves. She has served on the boards of many charitable organizations, including The University of Tulsa, Holland Hall, the Tulsa Community Foundation, the Tulsa Library Trust, the ONE Awards for the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits and the Judge Holloway Scholars Board, among others.
A recipient of the James C. Lang Award for Mentoring from the Tulsa County Bar Association, Coyle has led attorney orientation at Conner & Winters for many years. She has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumna of UTulsa and honored by the Federal Bar Association’s “The Art of Law – A Master’s Perspective.”
Chief Judge John F. Heil III
John Heil III was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Law Award.
Heil earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Oklahoma State University before graduating with honors from UTulsa Law in 1994, where he served as an editor of the Tulsa Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Curule Chair.
After graduation, he was recruited to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office to help create a newly envisioned Drug Task Force. He served the state of Oklahoma as assistant district attorney for more than three years, where he conducted countless jury trials in the prosecution of major drug and violent crimes, including child abuse and murder.
In 2000, Heil joined Hall Estill, where his practice focused on complex commercial litigation for over 20 years. He served the firm on the board of directors and as a member of the executive committee. He was recognized by Benchmark Litigation and Best Lawyers in America for his commercial litigation practice.
In 2020, Heil was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed as a U.S. district judge for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma. In 2021, he became the chief judge in the Northern District. He served as a member of the 10th Circuit Judicial Council from 2022 to 2024. In 2024, Heil was recognized as Judge of the Year by the American Trial Lawyers Association. In July 2025, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Heil to serve a three-year term as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Space and Facilities. He sat by designation with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for the court’s first term of 2026. Heil currently serves as chief judge in the Eastern District. He has also been proud to give back to his alma mater in his service on the UTulsa Law Dean’s Advisory Board since 2024.
Kathryn A. LaFortune
Kathryn A. LaFortune was awarded the W. Thomas Coffman Award for Community Service.
LaFortune received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and materials science and then enrolled at UTulsa Law, beginning her career as a municipal public defender. She later earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from UTulsa, researching competency to stand trial and the MacArthur Assessment of Competence Tool for Criminal Adjudication. Her internship and postdoctoral work were completed at Eastern State Hospital, where she worked with clients deemed incompetent and those found not guilty by reason of insanity.
LaFortune was a Carl Albert Fellow and worked at Rader, the maximum-security facility for delinquent youth. She served as mental health director at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center, chief of special services for forensic psychology at the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System and as a field representative for U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine. She was a staff psychologist at the Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice and currently completes forensic evaluations for tribal nations in Oklahoma. She has taught mental health law at New York Law School, one of the few programs of its kind in the United States. She also taught in the forensic sciences program at Oklahoma State University and as an adjunct instructor in UTulsa’s Psychology Department.
LaFortune serves on the boards of Parkside, Tulsa Psychiatric Center and Oklahoma Appleseed. She previously served on the Oklahoma Child Death Review Board, TMM, the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and the American Psychological Association Committee on Legal Issues. She has received the Newsmakers Award from Tulsa Women in Communications, the Tulsa Press Club Headliners Award, the Holland Hall Distinguished Alumni Award, the Oklahoma Psychological Association Distinguished Professional Services Citation, the Otto L. Walter Distinguished Writing Award for adjunct faculty from New York Law School and the Fern L. Holland Award from the UTulsa Women’s Law Caucus.
Tulsa County District Judge William D. LaFortune Sr.
Bill LaFortune was awarded the W. Thomas Coffman Award for Community Service.
LaFortune graduated from the University of California-Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies before receiving his Juris Doctor from UTulsa Law in 1983. His first job was as a contract administrator with Telex. LaFortune’s first break in public service was when he was appointed as an assistant attorney general, a position he held from 1987 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1993. He also served as an assistant district attorney and as special judge. LaFortune was appointed Tulsa County district attorney in 1995 and obtained record-setting verdicts in cases he personally prosecuted.
LaFortune accepted a partnership with the firm of Norman Wohlgemuth Chandler Dowdell in 1998. However, the political bug caught up with him in 2001, and he was elected mayor of Tulsa, serving from 2002 to 2006. His achievements included the passage of Vision 2025 in 2003, which included the BOK Center. He then returned to the practice of law, first with Moyers Martin Santee Imel and later in his own practice. In 2015, he was elected district judge and has been re-elected twice since then. He served as presiding judge during the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving the Tulsa County Bar Association’s President’s Award that year.
LaFortune is married to Kathy LaFortune, who is also a UTulsa Law graduate. They have three children and one grandchild – William D. LaFortune III.