Greg Lavender was appointed to serve as a Special Judge for the Tulsa County District Court and commenced his official duties on September 3, 2024. Judge Lavender is currently assigned to the criminal division presiding over preliminary hearings and strives to ensure fair, impartial, and efficient judicial proceedings that reduce backlogs as part of the orderly administration of justice.Prior to his judicial service, Greg Lavender was an accomplished solo practitioner primarily focused on the representation of the citizen accused in criminal actions throughout the State of Oklahoma and within the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) Nations and of natural parents in juvenile deprived proceedings. In addition to his private clientele, Mr. Lavender was a contracting attorney with the Oklahoma Family Representation and Advocacy Program (formerly a division of Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma) as the Parent Defense Team docket leader for two specialty deprived dockets: the Indian Child Welfare Docket (ICWA) and the Family Treatment Court Docket (FTC) and with the Parent Child Center to represent parents in deprived actions as part of the Safe Babies Court model. Due to his extensive ICWA experience, he has served in the capacity of a qualified expert witness (QEW). He further accepted criminal conflict appointments from the Tulsa County District Court and from the Court of Indian Offenses for the Eastern Oklahoma Region.