From the Desk of the Executive Director

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming,United States
• Citation: Vol. 28 No. 3 Pg. 5
• Publication year: 2005
• Pages: 5
• Year: 2005
• topic: Business of Law,Civil Rights

Wyoming Bar Journal 2005.

Vol. 28, No. 3 #5 (June 2005). FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

WYOMING LAWYER
June 2005/Vol. XXVIII, No. 3

FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR .

By Mary B. Guthrie

Several state bar associations have honored their pioneer women attorneys. The Wyoming State Bar has decided to follow this example by recognizing the first fifty women admitted to the bar in Wyoming. Plans include publishing a booklet and hosting a dinner. These activities will define some of the challenges faced by early women lawyers, reflect on their dreams and celebrate their accomplishments as well as those of the women attorneys who have followed them

Such a project will be a fun, but somewhat daunting activity, because no one has written a history of Wyoming women attorneys. The first task has been to compile a list, which I was able to do after poring over some old, leather-bound books which are kept by the Clerk of the Supreme Court. These tomes contain the handwritten names of everyone who has ever been admitted to the Wyoming Bar since statehood. I felt that I was visiting with ghosts when I saw the names of many grand old lawyers about whom I had heard or known as a child.

In compiling the list, I was faced with an interesting issue, because some of the names were not gender specific. Were Billie Joe, Lynn, Lorin, Holly and Francis men or women? (At this writing, it appears that all were men). A bigger challenge that I now face is tracking down some of the women admitted in the 1920s and 1930s who didn't stay in Wyoming.

My initial work has revealed some interesting information. While the first woman was admitted to practice in the Wyoming...