Office of Bar Counsel, 0418 WYBJ, Vol. 41 No. 2. 12
| Author | Mark W. Gifford, Wyoming State Bar Office of Bar Counsel Cheyenne, Wyoming. |
| Position | Vol. 41 2 Pg. 12 |
A Walk Through the History Books: The Evolution of Lawyer Discipline in Wyoming
Mark W. Gifford, Wyoming State Bar Office of Bar Counsel Cheyenne, Wyoming.
When the first legislative assembly of the Territory of Wyoming convened in 1869, one of the issues it addressed was regulation of the practice of law in the fledgling territory. In the inaugural General Laws of the Territory of Wyoming, an entire chapter was dedicated to lawyers, defining unacceptable conduct and providing penalties for such conduct, including revocation or suspension of a lawyer's license.1 This early statutory framework was carried forward after Wyoming achieved statehood in 1890, with enforcement of these provisions being left to the courts.2 In 1903, the statute regarding commencement of disciplinary proceedings against lawyers was amended to give the Board of Law Examiners (BLE) a role in investigating and prosecuting disciplinary complaints.3
In 1925, the Wyoming Legislature expanded the duties of the BLE to include "enforce[ment of] laws relating to attorneys at law," with the board given "general charge of suspension and disbarment proceedings, or proceedings brought to suspend or revoke the license of any attorney or counselor at law in practice in this state."4 The legislation provided that lawyer discipline cases would be heard by a panel of three district judges, including the judge in the lawyer's district. In this early rendition of the discipline system, the lawyer could demand a trial by jury, but that statutory provision was removed in 1937.5
In 1939, the Wyoming Legislature passed the "Integrated Bar Act," embracing a regulatory model for the practice of law that most states adopted during the 1920s and 30s.6 The act directed the Court to adopt rules governing a mandatory bar association to serve as an administrative agency of the Court for the purpose of enforcing the Court's rules for regulation of the practice of law. The same statute directed the Court to establish a practice and procedure for disciplining lawyers.
In compliance with this legislative mandate, in 1941, the Court adopted rules creating the Wyoming State Bar, to be governed by a Board of Commissioners consisting of a president, vice president, secretary-treasurer and one representative from each of the State's judicial districts, all to be elected at an annual meeting of the bar.7 The Board of Commissioners was to act as the "administrative agent" of the Court "for the purpose of enforcing such rules and regulations as are prescribed, adopted, and promulgated" by the Court. Commissioners' duties included investigation of complaints of unethical or unauthorized practice of law, with the investigating commissioner required to submit a report to the BLE "for such action as said latter Board may deem appropriate." Despite these changes, the lawyer discipline system continued to be largely dictated by statute, with the Court occasionally adopting its own rules to augment the statutory construct.
From 1925, when the legislature expressly charged the BLE with enforcement of statutes regarding the practice of law, to 1973, when the Court...
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