After practicing law for 50 years, Reece Morrel, my father, retired in 2016. This page is a tribute to his amazing and often exciting legal career. He still enjoys hearing about how “things are going at the office.”

We were attending a tax conference in Washington DC, and Judge Elizabeth Crewson Paris (JD from the University of Tulsa) gave us a personal tour of the U.S. Tax Court. In the picture, we are standing together at the podium in front of the bench.

Reece Morrel entered law school because he felt a law degree would help him succeed in his work as an Internal Revenue Service agent. In the midst of law school, however, he modified his career path.

“After the first two years of the four-year program in night school, I could think of nothing but practicing law. I knew a number of lawyers from my work at the IRS, and it impressed me that they seemed to enjoy their work. It also appeared to me that they lived very well, and I wanted a full and good life for me and my family,” Morrel said. “I had grown weary of the ‘worrisome red tape’ and the ‘daily grind’ within what I was beginning to perceive was a very negative atmosphere. At the same time, it was as if the legal profession was exerting a magnetic force toward me, drawing me in.”

So upon obtaining his law degree from the University of Tulsa in 1966, he resigned with the IRS to enter into practice with a tax lawyer in Oklahoma City. He left the firm to return to the Tulsa area, where he took a job as trust officer with National Bank of Tulsa, now Bank of Oklahoma. A year later he returned to private practice with a friend from law school. In 1973, he established his own firm, Reece Morrel & Associates, Inc.

Morrel works primarily in the area of tax planning, estate planning, tax disputes, criminal tax cases, civil litigation, and the resulting business law in connection with the tax work.  He also handles the purchase and sale of businesses, commercial real estate, and the formation of business entities.

Throughout the years, Morrel has served as legal counsel to a broad base of clientele involving a wide array of enterprises such as real estate ventures, professional architectural and engineering firms, medical practices, manufacturing businesses, California wineries, agricultural operations and wholesale and retail businesses.

“In the process, I have had the privilege of meeting many people from throughout the world, probably from every continent on Earth, most of whom have left me with vivid impressions,” he said. “All the people with whom I have come into contact as a result of my involvement with their business concerns have naturally broadened my perspective and unwittingly have helped me form my personal convictions of what it takes to succeed in every aspect of life.”

Morrel is a member of the Tulsa County, Oklahoma and American Bar Associations. He is admitted to practice in Oklahoma state courts, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Tax Court.

His civic responsibilities include serving as an Elder of Southbrooke Church of Christ. He also is a past TU alumni board member and been active with the Tulsa Christian Foundation for more than 30 years. In addition, he contributes countless hours of pro bono service each year to several churches.

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