Scott L. Palk
Scott Lawrence Palk is an American attorney and academic serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He formerly served as the assistant dean at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Education and legal career
Palk is a 1985 graduate of Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1989 from Oklahoma State University and a Juris Doctor in 1992 from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.From 1992 to 2002, Palk served as an assistant district attorney for Cleveland County in Norman, Oklahoma, serving as first assistant district attorney from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he served as an assistant United States attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma, holding a number of managerial roles beginning in 2004, including deputy criminal chief and anti-terrorism advisory council coordinator. Palk won Prosecutor of the Year awards in 1993 and 2004.
From 2011 until his confirmation as a federal judge, he served as the assistant dean for students and assistant general counsel at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. In addition to overseeing admissions and providing legal counsel, he served as a consultant to the University's Threat Assessment Review Committee, advising in areas of criminal threat assessment and legal access.