My Perspective

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming,United States
• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 4 Pg. 16
• Publication year: 2015
• Pages: 16
• Year: 2015
• topic: Business of Law,Civil Procedure

My Perspective Vol. 38 No. 4 Pg. 16 Wyoming Bar Journal August, 2015

Michael B. Rosenthal Hathaway & Kunz, P.C. Cheyenne, Wyoming

The Price of Admission

“Proud to be a Wyoming lawyer”

That popular phrase, coined 20 years ago by then Wyoming State Bar President, Gerald Mason, captured the spirit of what most of us living and practicing law in Wyoming for any length of time know well. Being granted the right and privilege to practice law in our state once meant you were a member of the most exclusive state bar association in the country, practicing in a place where lawyers took pride in being respected professionals and community leaders. Being a Wyoming lawyer involved forging professional relationships, treating one another with civility and respect, and working together to craft legal solutions for our clients. Wyoming lawyers have historically understood that receiving the right to practice law here also carried with it important responsibilities – responsibilities to our communities, to our state, and to our state bar organization.

In the federal court clerk’s office in Cheyenne, a single well-worn book, whose first entries date back 125 years, contains the signatures of nearly every lawyer admitted to practice in our state. It represents a small but distinguished group of lawyers practicing in localities in the least populated state in the country. Until recently, that book was primarily filled with names of Wyoming lawyers – leaders who chose to live here and make their mark in communities across this state through their...