Justice Marian P. Opala, who was born in 1921 in Lodz, Poland, became a United States citizen in 1953. He graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law the same year. In 1957, he earned a BSB degree in economics from Oklahoma City University and in 1968 his master-of-law degree from New York University School of Law. Opala began his legal career as assistant county attorney in Oklahoma County and held this position until 1956 when he entered private practice. He first served the Supreme Court of Oklahoma as a referee from 1960 to 1965. Later he was staff lawyer for Justice Rooney McInerney. For nine years (from 1969 to 1977) Opala directed the state's court system as its first administrative director. He served as judge on the State Industrial Court when it was renamed (in 1977-1978) the Workers' Compensation Court. On November 21, 1978, the then-Governor, now OU President David Boren appointed him to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Voters retained him in 1980 for the unexpired term of his predecessor. In 1982, 1988 and 1994 he was retained for six-year terms. He served as the court's Chief Justice from January 1, 1991 to December 31, 1992. The author of numerous legal papers, Opala is an adjunct professor in three law schools --- at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University and the University of Tulsa --- and a frequent lecturer at various national judicial and legal education programs. Since 1982 he has been an Oklahoma commissioner in the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. A member of the Order of the Coif and the American Law Institute, he was appointed in December 1993 as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Office: Room 238, State Capitol Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105. Telephone: (405) 521-3839.