Vol. 29, No. 6 #9 (December 2006). A Lifetime of Law.

• Author: Pioneer attorney still practicing after 60 years By Mary Angell

Wyoming Bar Journal

2006.

Vol. 29, No. 6 #9 (December 2006).

A Lifetime of Law

WYOMING LAWYERDecember 2006/Vol. 29, No. 6A Lifetime of LawPioneer attorney still practicing after 60 years By Mary Angell

Women were "about as common as an aardvark in the courtroom" when Brooke Wunnicke started practicing law in Cheyenne. The year was 1946, and Wunnicke was Wyoming's first female trial attorney.

"In those days, reporters were all men. Jurors were all men," she told the Wyoming Lawyer recently. "I tried jury cases to (male) judges, always. I tell you truthfully, I never felt it prejudiced my clients. When they saw I was there for real and prepared and doing my job, I could feel the support. It was literally palpable to me."

Now, at the age of 88, Wunnicke is the oldest active member of the Wyoming Bar and one of the oldest in the Colorado Bar. She serves as Of Counsel for the firm of Hall and Evans, L.L.C., located in the Chase Building in downtown Denver. Though she's practiced in Colorado since 1969, Wyoming mementos -- including documentation from the Wyoming Supreme Court of her acceptance to the Wyoming Bar and a crystal plaque commemorating her 60 years as a member -- are prominent fixtures there.

Over the years, Wunnicke has specialized in diverse areas of the law. She gained extensive trial and appellate experience and served as Chief Appellate Deputy in the Denver District Attorney's office for more than 12 years. She has authored and co-authored books on business law, taught law classes at the University of Denver College of Law and lectured on a variety of subjects, chiefly professional ethics.

When Wunnicke talks about her years in the legal profession, her love of the law is obvious.

"I've gotten so much joy from it," she said of her career. "I have a lot of memories. You never forget your victories and you never forget your defeats --- which are always unjustified. You never forget anything funny or sad, so you have to say the trivia is not worth recording."

Wunnicke stands about 5 feet tall. Her white hair and gentle countenance may remind younger lawyers of their grandmothers, but her discussion of the law is as sharp as the plum and gray hounds tooth suit she wore for her Wyoming Lawyer interview.

Wunnicke recalled the early days of her career when she was often the only woman in the courtroom.(fn1) While most...