General Counsel
John Settle has recently been selected as General Counsel for the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs. Settle began his service to the ODVA, May 30th, 2023. He is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma and Kansas.
Settle moved to the ODVA from the office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, where he had served Oklahoma citizens and various Oklahoma state agencies as a Chief Assistant Attorney General since January 1, 2018. During his time with the OAG, Settle was assigned to the Tobacco Enforcement Unit and the Legal Counsel Unit.
Early in his career, Settle served as an Oklahoma Assistant District Attorney in two Oklahoma Prosecution Districts. Settle also served on the OBA-YLD Board of Directors for several years before he and his wife Paula moved their family to Pawnee County, Kansas, to manage one of his family’s community newspapers.
In July of 1995, Settle was appointed by Kansas Governor Bill Graves as the County Attorney of Pawnee County, Kansas, where he served the community as its Chief Law Enforcement Officer and County Counselor until January 2017, when Settle and his wife moved to Hutchinson, Kansas, where he served as the Senior Assistant District Attorney of Reno County, Kansas, until he accepted the position with the OAG.
During his years as a Kansas prosecutor, Settle was elected to the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association Board of Directors in 1996, ultimately serving as the organization’s President in 2003. In 2016, Settle was honored by the KCDAA with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Settle still serves as a Trustee of the Kansas Prosecutor Foundation.
In 2004, Settle was instrumental in establishing the KCDAA’s member publication, “The Kansas Prosecutor”. Settle served on the Board of Editors of the publication until 2018. Settle also served on the Criminal Law Advisory Committee of the Kansas Legislative Judicial Council from 2002 through 2017. Settle also was one of the authors and revisors of the Fourth and Fifth Editions of the Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, published by the Kansas Bar Association in 2006 and 2016.
Settle enjoys spending his spare time with his family, playing golf, bass fishing, and competing in birddog field trials. He is also an experienced pilot with more than 2500 hours logged as a single and multi-engine rated private pilot.
