Following service in the United States Marine Corps (1952-1954), Judge West earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He was selected by the faculty as the Outstanding Graduate of his law school class, served as editor of the Oklahoma Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif.
Judge West engaged in private practice in Ada, Okla., until he joined the University of Oklahoma College of Law faculty in 1961. During 1962-1963 he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Law teaching at Harvard Law School were he earned an L.L.M. degree. Judge West returned to private practice in 1963.
In 1965, Judge West was appointed by Governor Henry Bellmon to serve as District Judge for the 22nd Judicial District of Oklahoma, serving also as Special Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals until 1973. During this time, Judge West graduated from the National College of State Trial Judges. President Richard Nixon appointed Judge West to the Civil Aeronautics Board, Washington, D.C., in 1973. He was designated the board's Acting Chairman by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Judge West was appointed U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He served as Chief Judge of the Western District from 1993 until he took senior status in November, 1994. Since that time he has remained active, hearing cases at both the district and circuit level and serving as a settlement judge in complex and protracted cases throughout the 10th Circuit. He received the Award for Judicial Excellence from the Oklahoma Bar Association in 2000.
Judge West's life story was the subject of a recent biography, Law and Laughter, The Life of Lee West, by Bob Burke, a 1979 graduate of OCU School of Law, and the Honorable David L. Russell.
Concerned individuals may wish to share their opinion as to whether this judge fits Senator Charles Schumer's definition of "mainstream" by calling 405-609-5140/42/63 or the facsimile number: 405-609-5151.