Collinsville City Attorney Ken Ray Underwood Honored with James C. Lang Mentoring Award

The Tulsa County Bar Association has announced that the co-winner of the 2019 James C. Lang Mentoring award is the “Zen Master,” Ken Ray Underwood.
Underwood has served as the City Attorney in Collinsville since his appointment in July of 2002. He has lived in Collinsville since 1993 and has been a lifelong resident of Tulsa County.
After graduating from The University of Tulsa college of Law in 1975, Underwood began practicing in Tulsa with a focus on catastrophic injuries and wrongful death. Since then, he has been actively involved in the Tulsa County Bar Association, serving as board member and chairman of the public relations committee.
He received the President’s Award from the Tulsa County Bar Association for outstanding and dedicated services in 2013 and 2014. In 2018, Underwood was honored by the Tulsa County Association with the Golden Rule Award for outstanding contributions to the profession.
Already active in the community through his role as City Attorney in Collinsville, Underwood served for six years on the board of the Arubah Community clinic, a faith-based community health clinic in Collinsville.
In March 2018, he was awarded the Legacy Award by the Arubah Community Clinic for service. He has served on the board of the Indian Health Care Resources Center, the Community Service Counsel of Tulsa and as the 2019 Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma honorary co-chair.
For the last six years, Underwood has helped coach the Owasso High School Mock Trial Team, taking them to the OBA State Finals the last five years, which is unprecedented in the 40-year history of the competition.
The last two years, he has played a major part in helping the team win State Championships. 
On the Owasso team, Underwood is known to the students and coaches alike as the “Zen Master” for his inspiring speeches and competition day pep talks on the team Facebook page.  He is always the last speaker at the team banquet for his inspiring words closing the season.
Underwood has been a model leader in keeping the very competitive multiple Owasso teams working together as a team and for the students to realize they are stronger working together rather than against each other.
Underwood also mentored young lawyers as a longtime supporter and volunteer of Lawyers Fighting Hunger in addition to volunteering for many years as a wrestling and weightlifting coach for Tulsa Boys’ Home. He has been a positive role model, mentor and leader his entire career. 
Underwood is a member of the Cherokee Nation and is proud of his Native American heritage. He enjoys spending time on his ranch in Delaware County, which was his grandmother’s original Indian allotment. He also enjoys reading, hiking, raising cattle and spending time with his two grown children, Emily Underwood and Robert Underwood, and special friend Leslie Paris.