Mark D. G. Sanders

A fourth-generation Tulsan, Mark D.G. Sanders joined GableGotwals in 2009, after 23 years of legal practice outside of Oklahoma.  Immediately prior to his relocation to Tulsa, Mark had served for over 15 years as Law Clerk to the Honorable Albert S. Dabrowski, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Connecticut.  Prior to his tenure with the Court, Mark was engaged in private practice in Missouri and Connecticut.

Mark’s practice focuses primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, insolvency and commercial litigation.  His clientele and modes of practice have been wide-ranging.  In the bankruptcy context, he has counseled and represented (i) secured and unsecured creditors in, and in anticipation of, cases under Chapters 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code; (ii) standing and case trustees in Chapter 7 and 13 cases; (iii) committees of creditors and equity holders in Chapter 11; and (iv) consumer and business debtors in, and in anticipation of, cases under Chapters 7, 9, 11 and 13.  Mark’s non-bankruptcy practice has focused upon general commercial litigation, real estate foreclosure, “workout” negotiations and credit restructuring arrangements.

Mark has taught Bankruptcy & Reorganization as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tulsa School of Law.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of DVIS-Call Rape (Domestic Violence Intervention Services).

In law school Mark wrote for the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.  At Occidental College he was Student Body President and received the Economics Department’s Outstanding Senior Thesis Award.  He is also a cum laude graduate of the Holland Hall School in Tulsa.

Mark is married, and the father of three.  He is an avid runner and a committed community activist, historical preservationist and amateur archeologist.

Mark’s recent experience includes:

• • Representation of Chapter 11 debtor in successful reorganization of large regional manufacturing concern
  • Counsel for dissident secured lender group in SemGroup Chapter 11 case in the District of Delaware
  • Representation of regional building products supplier in successful defense of $1 million+ preferential transfer claim
  • Successful reorganization of non-profit social service entity in contested small business case under Chapter 11
  • Representation of large construction company in successful Chapter 11 reorganization

Stephen A. Schuller

Steve Schuller is a shareholder in the Tulsa office of GableGotwals. He has represented developers, investors and entrepreneurs in all aspects of the acquisition and sale of real estate, oil and gas properties and investments, and other major business assets for more than 40 years. He has handled complex financing transactions associated with such acquisitions, leasing (both documentation and enforcement), the planning and zoning process (both the administrative/regulatory level and in judicial and appellate proceedings), and recovery and work-out situations (including disposition of assets in foreclosures and bankruptcies). He regularly appears before local planning commissions and municipal governments, and he has successfully obtained the approval of a variety of commercial and mixed-used real estate developments. Our clients regularly consult with Steve on real estate acquisition and development issues, as well as specialized topics such as easements and rights of way and municipal utility franchises. In addition, Steve has represented international business organizations and individuals establishing operations in Oklahoma, as well as assisting domestic firms in trans-national transactions.

Steve was first listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers (for General Practice and Real Estate Law) as a solo practitioner in 1995, and he has been listed annually in The Best Lawyers in America (Real Estate Law, Real Estate Litigation, and Land Use and Zoning Law) beginning in 2006.

Steve was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oklahoma State University Medical Center Trust, serving on its Long Range Planning Committee, until the Trust was dissolved and the Medical Center transferred to a state agency. He was a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Retirement System of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, from 1990-2020. He served as one of the Trustees of the Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy, a public trust authority established by the City of Tulsa, from 2002 to 2011, and was its Chairman in 2006-2007. In 2006, then-Mayor Bill LaFortune selected Steve to serve on the Citizens’ Commission on City Government, an advisory board examining the City of Tulsa’s governmental structure. In addition, Steve served as a Member of the City of Tulsa’s Sales Tax Overview Committee from 1991 to 1994.

He is conversationally fluent in German.

Steve’s representative experience includes:

• Advising a client in the development of a regional shopping center.
• Advising a client in securing municipal zoning approval of a highly contested church parking lot expansion.
• The organization of a group of property owners for the development of their property in Downtown Tulsa for the construction of a national-franchise hotel, including the organization of the development company, and the negotiation of all development contracts and ancillary arrangements.
• Negotiation of a sanitary sewer construction and development agreement between an international service company (the client) and a local municipality, and the preparation of the pertinent documents, with the contemporaneous negotiation of the de-annexation of the client’s property from one neighboring municipality as a prerequisite to the annexation of the client’s property into the other municipality, and the preparation of all annexation/de-annexation agreements.
• Securing the requisite zoning approval for re-zoning and a Planned Unit Development for a major multi-city convenience store operator’s new store development.

Deborah Shallcross

Former Judge Deborah Shallcross joined GableGotwals in January 2012, after serving almost 30 years on the bench assigned to all Divisions of the District Court in Tulsa County. During her tenure as a Judge assigned to the Civil Division of the District Court, she presided for 20 years over complex oil and gas, toxic tort, and class action litigation as well as hundreds of Jury and Non-Jury Trials.

Ms. Shallcross  practices with GableGotwals full-time with an emphasis in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Litigation, and Appellate Practice. She also focuses on family law, particularly where complex divorce cases are involved. In addition, she is uniquely qualified to offer a Private Trial courtroom or arbitration and mediation outside the courthouse. Oklahoma law allows the appointment of a Referee in family law cases. Former Judge Shallcross conducts a trial and provides a Decision with detailed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law to the parties and to the assigned Judge. The assigned Judge reviews the Recommendations of the Referee and then enters the Decree of Dissolution.

She has completed advanced education in Alternative Dispute Resolution including Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Mediating the Litigated Case, 2011 and the National Judicial College, Civil Mediation and Advanced Mediation.

Following graduation from the University of Oklahoma College of Law Ms. Shallcross became a partner in a law firm in Shawnee, Oklahoma where she earned a reputation as a talented litigator. She then came to Tulsa to serve as an Assistant Public Defender, representing children at the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau. In 1981, Shallcross was selected by the Judges of Tulsa County as a Special Judge. She was subsequently appointed a District Judge by Governor Henry Bellmon in 1990 and served five terms as a District Judge of the 14th Judicial District.

Ms. Shallcross has been very active in the community and is currently Chair of the Board of Directors with the Ann Patterson Dooley Family Safety Center and a Board Member with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. She has received numerous awards and recognition for community and professional service, most recently the Watchmen Award by the Community Service Council in 2012, the Golden Rule Award by the Tulsa County Bar Association in 2011, The Oklahoma Judge of the Year in 2011 by the American Board of Trial Advocates, Oklahoma Chapter, and the Outstanding Trial Judge of the Year in 2009 by the Oklahoma Association for Justice.