Lawyers and Judges to Gather in Laramie

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming State Bar today announced that it will be hosting its 2016 Annual Meeting & Judicial Conference at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center and the UW Conference Center in Laramie, September 13 – 16, 2016. The meeting is a combined gathering of the Wyoming State Bar and the Wyoming Judiciary. Four-hundred attorneys and judges are expected to be in attendance.

This year’s Annual Meeting will offer three days of quality educational programs for Wyoming lawyers. Speakers for the week will include Linda Klein, the President of the American Bar Association (ABA). Klein is a senior managing shareholder at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz in Atlanta, Georgia. She assumed her role of President of the ABA in August 2016 and will serve in that capacity for one year.

Also featured is Richard C. Harding, a retired Judge Advocate General of the United States Air Force. Harding will be participating with Klein in the opening session regarding the importance of the Rule of Law. Harding was the highest-ranking uniformed attorney in the Air Force, and led over 4,400 uniformed and civilian lawyers, paralegals and legal support personnel. He served as the legal adviser to the Secretary of the Air Force, the Air Force Chief of Staff, and all officers subordinate to them.

Featured speakers from Laramie include the Honorable Jeffrey A. Donnell, District Court Judge; Peggy Trent, Albany County Attorney; and Devon O’Connell, the President of the Wyoming State Bar. Many local attorneys and professors from the University of Wyoming College of Law will also be speaking at the conference. For a complete schedule, please visit the Wyoming State Bar’s website at wyomingbar.org.

“Our Annual Meeting serves as a unique opportunity for Wyoming’s lawyers and judges to get together and not only learn and conduct business, but to also network Wyoming-style,” said Devon O’Connell, Laramie attorney and President of the Wyoming State Bar.

Thursday evening, the Bar is thrilled to have Dean Strang, one of the defense lawyers from the smash-hit Netflix series, Making a Murderer, delivering the keynote at its Annual Banquet. Dean Strang, long regarded as one of Wisconsin’s best criminal defense lawyers, has received international acclaim for his role in defending Steve Avery. Avery, a convicted rapist who spent 18 years in prison before being released in 2003 based upon DNA evidence, was subsequently charged and convicted of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer. The attention garnered by Making a Murderer has propelled Strang to the forefront of thoughtful commentators on important justice related topics.

Anyone wishing further information about the Annual Meeting & Judicial Conference should contact Sharon Wilkinson, Executive Director, at (307) 432-2102.

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