John W. Coyle, III was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 7, 1948, and graduated from Harding High School. A graduate from OCU School of Law, John was admitted to the Bar in 1974. Mr. Coyle is also a 2000 graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College in Dubois, Wyoming.
He is a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and is also a member of the United States District Courts for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the United States Supreme Court. He was the recipient of the Clarence Darrow Award as Oklahoma’s Outstanding Criminal Defense Lawyer in 1995, and recipient of the Barry Albert Award from the Oklahoma County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association for Excellence in Advocacy in 2005.
Mr. Coyle has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for multiple years, and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in Criminal Trial Practice. He was the instructor in Criminal Law and Procedure for the Oklahoma Bar Review from 1988 through 1997, and remains a frequent speaker and lecturer in Continuing Legal Education Seminars.
Mr. Coyle is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association (Chairman, Criminal Law Committee, 1999-2000; Oklahoma Trial Lawyers’ Association (Member: Board of Directors 1991, 1993; Advisory Board, 1998 – 2002); Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association (Board of Directors 1996-1997); Oklahoma County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (Board of Directors 2009-Present, President 2011); National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Legislative Coordinator); First Amendment Lawyers’ Association; Master, William J. Holloway American Inn of Court, 1997 – 2018.