Bob Ravitz, a 1976 graduate of the Oklahoma City University School of Law, currently serves as Public Defender of Oklahoma County, a position he assumed in 1987. Mr. Ravitz is also an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University School of Law, teaching in the areas of trial practice, capital litigation, and criminal procedure.
In 1996, Mr. Ravitz was the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association recipient of the Clarence Darrow Award as Oklahoma's outstanding criminal defense lawyer. Ravitz successfully argued Cooper v. Oklahoma before the United States Supreme Court, where the Court unanimously concluded the Oklahoma standard for determining competency to stand trial was unconstitutional. Ravitz has also received the Angie Debo Civil Liberties Award for significant contributions to civil liberties in 1985 and, in 2001, was the recipient of the Oklahoma Bar Association of Black Lawyers Diversity Award.
Mr. Ravitz is a member of the Oklahoma Sentencing Commission and the Uniform Jury Instruction Committee. Mr. Ravitz previously served as president of the OCU Law Alumni Association, the Metro Alliance for Safer Cities, and the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association. He was a Barrister of the American Inn of Court XIII from 1990 to 1993 and is currently a Master in the William J. Holloway Inn of Court. Ravitz currently serves on the Board of Oklahoma Lawyers for Children and has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Board of Juvenile Affairs, Legal Aid of Western Oklahoma, the Oklahoma County Bar Association, and the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association.
Mr. Ravitz has lectured at numerous state and national seminars put on by the Oklahoma Bar Association, the National Judicial Conference, the Oklahoma Judicial Conference, the Professional Education Systems Institute, the Oklahoma City University School of Law, the University of Oklahoma School of Law, the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association, the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Tulsa County Bar Association, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Virginia Coalition Against the Death Penalty, and the Oklahoma County Bar Association. He lectures regularly at the Absolute Criminal Litigators Conference in Las Vegas.
Mr. Ravitz received his B.S. Degree from the University of Colorado in 1974 and his Juris Doctorate from Oklahoma City University in 1976. He is a member of the Oklahoma and Colorado State Bar Associations. He is also a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Western District of Oklahoma and District of Colorado. He and his wife, Diane, have two daughters, Rachel and Jennifer.