Creators and Guests

Justin is a retired Wyoming trial lawyer whose career focused on representing injured individuals and workers. WyoLawPod is an opportunity for him to have interesting conversations with fascinating lawyers and give listeners free CLE credit.

Dennis Ellis is the Microsoft TechSpark Community Engagement Manager for Cheyenne, Wyoming. In this role, he will work with local partners on programs that will help accelerate economic growth in Wyoming through regional internet connectivity, digital skills development, career pathways, nonprofit support and digital business transformation. He brings to the role his experience as proprietor of Ellis Public Affairs, a communications and advocacy firm connecting corporations with local causes. Dennis serves on the steering committee of the Wyoming Business Alliance, is past president of Wyoming Ag in the Classroom, past vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming and currently serves on Wyoming’s Mixed Martial Art Commission. He also led the Wyoming Medical Society, an organization that represents Wyoming physicians and their patients. Dennis also served as Deputy Attorney General for External Affairs in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and in Governor Bill Owens’ cabinet as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and was Legislative Director and Counsel for United States Representative Barbara Cubin overseeing her policy staff in Washington, DC. Dennis holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wyoming, and was certified as a mediator by the Supreme Court of Virginia. He completed leadership training at both the Kellogg Institute and the Kennedy School of Government, and is a Leadership Wyoming graduate. A Wyoming native, his family owned a sheep and cattle ranch for over 100 years. He is married to Wyoming State Senator Affie Ellis and is a father of three.

Devon P. O’Connell, attorney, member and partner at Pence and MacMillan, has been awarded the highest rating (AV) by Martindale-Hubbell. She was a broadcast journalist in her life before the law, working for Wyoming Public Radio and KTWO Television. Her practice focuses on providing the best services for mediation, civil litigation, civil practice, family law, divorce, and personal injury. She is a certified mediator, receiving her certification from CDR Associates in Boulder, Colorado in 2010, with training on complex cases at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. Devon was recently the 100th president of the Wyoming State Bar and was also president of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association. Devon also offers her skills and experience through mediation for litigation, divorce, and more, helping to resolve differences, big and small.

Beth Lance is the founding partner of Lance & Hall. Prior to opening her own practice she worked in both the private and public sectors. Beth previously worked as an associate attorney at Woodhouse Roden Nethercott, LLC, and as a Senior Assistant Public Defender and a Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of Wyoming. Beth’s work history has provided her with extensive experience in the courtroom at both trial and appellate court levels. Her work at the Attorney General’s Office provided her with wide-ranging experience in appellate law, both civil and criminal. She also gained administrative law experience by representing several state agencies and boards, including the Department of Family Services. Beth’s work at the Public Defender’s Office provided her with extensive litigation experience where she averaged 25 court appearances per week on behalf of her clients. She also gained significant experience in the representation of juveniles accused of crimes. Beth presently works as a contract attorney for the Guardian ad Litem division at the State of Wyoming where she represents juveniles in abuse/neglect, CHINS and delinquency cases. She frequently fields calls from other attorneys in how to handle juvenile justice matters and has presented multiple continuing legal education courses on the representation of juveniles. She has a reputation for success winning acquittals at trial on behalf of criminal clients and negotiating favorable outcomes for her clients. Beth’s practice focuses primarily on juvenile law, criminal defense, family, civil litigation, estate planning and appeals.

I was born Montana and grew up in Wyoming. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, learning to love and cherish the outdoors. During my summers in college, I worked as a wild-land firefighter, traveling the western United States on a hotshot crew. I continued on as a firefighter after graduating, working as a sawyer and squad-boss. Wildland firefighting taught me about intensely hard work and gave me an appreciation for a hard day’s pay. Sometimes we were forced to work up to 18 days straight in the rugged and remote mountainous country, where I packed a heavy chainsaw up and down those mountains to cut fire line in the fight against raging forest fires. It was during this period in my life I learned the definition of “hard work” and most importantly how to be dependable to others whose lives and safety depended on it. Firefighting taught me major life lessons on hard work, dependability, trust, credibility, and accountability. And those lessons carried on with me through law school and into my practice as an attorney. During the first ten years of my practice, I worked for the greatest trial lawyer in American History; Gerry Spence and his law firm. In 2013, I was acknowledged as one of the Top 40 Lawyers under the age of 40 years old. In 2010, I graduated from Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College located on the beautiful Thunderhead Ranch outside of Dubois, Wyoming, where I return each year to teach. Over the past 14 years, I had the privilege of representing remarkable and wonderful people winning seven and eight figure oilfield and trucking accident settlements. There are numerous stories of great people whose lives were destroyed as a result of other’s bad decisions and failures to be accountable and responsible. From oilfield and gas field drilling and pipeline accidents, industrial accidents, trucking, motorcycle and vehicular accidents, products liability, workplace accidents, unsafe premises conditions, nursing home malfeasance, I fight hard for my clients with a great team.

Hon. Alan Simpson served in the U.S. Senate (R-Wyoming) from January 1979 to 1997, where he was the Assistant Republican Leader, 1984-1994; Chairman of the Subcommittee of Immigration and Refugee Policy of the Senate Judiciary Committee, 1980-1984; Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee of Environmental and Public Works, 1980-1984; Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security and member of the Committee on Aging; Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, 1980-1984. From 1994-1996, he was a member of the Finance Committee; 1965-1977, Wyoming State Legislature, 1965-1978, Assistant Majority Leader, Majority Leader, and Speaker Pro Tem. Mr. Simpson served as Assistant Attorney General, State of Wyoming in 1959, and was City Attorney of Cody, Wyoming, from 1959-1969. Partner: Simpson & Simpson (with father Milward L. Simpson who also served as Governor and U.S. Senator for Wyoming ); Simpson Kepler & Simpson, 1960-1978. Additionally, Mr. Simpson served in the U.S. Army, 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Armored Division “Hell on the Wheels” and the 5th Division, U.S. Armed Forces, Germany. Alan Simpson is currently with the Washington Speakers Bureau in Washington, D.C. He is a very popular speaker and travels the country and abroad to speak to a wide variety of groups and associations regarding current affairs and politics in remarks entitled “Politics is a Contact Sport”. Mr. Alan Simpson is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Mr. Simpson was a member of the Board of Visitors for the Folger-Shakespeare Library and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. 1994-1996. From 1998 to 2000 Mr. Simpson was the Director of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; and he was a Visiting Lecturer at the Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy, 1997-2000. Mr. Simpson served on the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1996 and he has been a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild since 1994. He served on the Board of Directors for the Biogen Corporation (now BiogenIDEC Corporation), Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997-2004 and he was a member of the Board of Directors of American Express Funds, now RiverSource Funds, a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1997 through 2006. Mr. Simpson was also a member of the External Advisory Council for BP America Inc. Alan Simpson is an Emeritus Trustee of the Grand Teton Music Festival, Jackson, Wyoming and was formerly a member of the Board for Pacificorp from 1997-2000. In March 2010, Mr. Simpson was appointed by the President as the Co-Chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and he also served on the ten-member Iraq Study Group formed under the auspices of the congressionally chartered U.S. Institute of Peace in 2006.

Judge Owens was appointed to serve as a District Court Judge in the Ninth Judicial District by Governor Mark Gordon on January 19, 2022. Judge Owens received her J.D. from the University of Wyoming in 1998. She began her career as a public defender in Dallas, Texas. She transitioned to private practice in 2004 as a partner at Mulligan & Owens. Eventually, she worked as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney at the Teton County Attorney’s Office. Judge Owens also spent several years in private practice handling various types of litigation with an emphasis on family law. During that time, she served as the Town of Jackson Municipal Judge for seven years until her appointment to serve as a District Judge.

Judge Lavery was born and raised in Rock Springs, Wyoming. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and law degree from Creighton University. He practiced law in Evanston, Wyoming, for 31 years until taking the bench on June 30, 2012. He was the part-time municipal court judge for Evanston, Lyman, Mountain View and Bear River, Wyoming, from 1997 to 2012. He was a member of the Board of Officers and Commissioners for the Wyoming State Bar and served as President in 2009. In May of 2012 he was appointed District Judge for the Third Judicial District in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and began his service as District Judge in July 2012. He is a member of the Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics, Civil Pattern Jury Instruction Committee, Courtroom Technology Committee and the Access to Justice Commission.

Jack D. Edwards is a passionate advocate for the injured men and women of Wyoming. He works tirelessly to protect the rights of his clients and to deliver the legal results they need. Jack is compassionately committed to helping his clients through the legal process. Jack continually focuses on perfecting and expanding his unique skill set by attending regular, professional training, and establishing key relationships with professionals. He is constantly advocating in the legal and medical communities, and developing processes and strategies in order to effectively and efficiently serve his clients.

Josie Sanchez is retired from the State of Wyoming after 21 years of service. Josie started at the State of Wyoming with Workers’ Compensation as a reception clerk and started learning the details of the job she would soon do as a claims analyst. She was passionate about her job and was quickly promoted to be an analyst. After about two years as a claims analyst, Josie was managing a case load of between 450 and 500 claims at a time and continued to do so for the next 19 years. She retired in 2018 and is enjoying her retirement and her new hobby of bee keeping, but she still takes calls from her former claimants to help them and answer questions about their cases. Josie has a vast knowledge of the work comp claims process that will be beneficial to claimants and claimant’s attorneys alike.

Mark W. Gifford is Bar Counsel for the Wyoming State Bar. He is a Wyoming native who received his Bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Wyoming in 1978 and his law degree from Stanford University in 1981. After 30 years of practice as a trial lawyer and mediator, Mark took the position of Bar Counsel on a part-time basis in 2011 and became full-time in October 2013. In addition to attorney discipline, Gifford’s responsibilities include Unauthorized Practice of Law, Fee Dispute Resolution and Client Protection Fund. He also serves as general counsel to the Wyoming State Bar. Gifford was instrumental in getting Wyoming’s Lawyer Assistance Program launched in 2014. He is a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Regulation. He has been recognized as an AV Preeminent-rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings, a distinction based upon peer reviews by members of the Bar and the Judiciary.

As a partner with Hathaway & Kunz, Matt’s legal practice focuses on business, corporate, technology, capital formation, intellectual property protection, mergers and acquisitions. With an advanced LL.M. degree in entrepreneurial law, Matt is well equipped to provide highly-skilled representation to entrepreneurs, start-ups and emerging companies – as well as established companies on complex transactions and strategies. Matt routinely represents and advises clients on matters such as: entity formations, financing and operational issues, intellectual property, regulatory compliance and contract matters. Matt is one of only a few attorneys in Wyoming actively representing clients in private placement securities matters, and recently co-lawyered Wyoming’s first ever equity-based crowdfunding campaign. Additionally, Matt is one of the only attorney’s in Wyoming advising companies on blockchain, cryptocurrency, and token offerings. Matt also has significant experience representing clients in litigation matters, routinely appearing before various state and federal courts in Wyoming.

Michael C. Duff is Professor of Law at Saint Louis University School of Law, where he co-directs the Wefel Center for Employment Law and is co-editor of the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law. Professor Duff is a member of the American Law Institute, a scholar-member of the Center for Progressive Reform, and a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an academic fellow at the National Civil Justice Institute. Professor Duff also serves as member of the Missouri Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Professor Duff attended college in his late 20s, while simultaneously employed full-time as a union-represented airline ramp worker. He was one of the first Black Teamster shop-stewards in the U.S. Airways (now American Airlines) system. The first member of his family to attend college, Professor Duff went directly from the airport tarmac to the Harvard Law School after graduating summa cum laude from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He ultimately graduated from law school in 1995 and went on to work for a small law firm in Maine where he represented injured workers and labor unions. Thereafter he worked for the National Labor Relations Board for a decade in the Philadelphia and Minneapolis regional offices. He has written textbooks and journal articles in several different areas of workplace law.

The Honorable Michael J. Sullivan, among the first recipients of the College's petroleum engineering degree, used his engineering education and training in arenas far removed from the oil patch. After practicing as a Casper business and trial lawyer for 22 years, he embarked on a political career that resulted in his election as two-term Governor of Wyoming and appointment as United States Ambassador to Ireland. Sullivan won the 1986 governor's race in his first attempt at political office. He was re-elected in 1990. The Honorable Michael J. Sullivan In addition to chairing the Western Governor's Association and serving on the Executive Board of the National Governor's Association, Sullivan represented Wyoming and served as Chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. In 1995 Sullivan returned to private practice in Casper and in 1996 spent a semester as a Fellow of the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. President Bill Clinton named Mike Sullivan as United States Ambassador to Ireland in 1998. After serving in Ireland for 2 ½ years under both the Clinton and Bush administrations, Sullivan returned to Wyoming and the practice of law.

Rob is a practicing attorney, he serves as a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Panel Trustee, and is a certified Mediator. Rob spends the majority of his time focusing on creditor and debtor representation in consumer and corporate bankruptcy. He has been appointed a Chapter 11 Trustee, Examiner, and Liquidating Agent. As of 2022 Rob has administered approximately 10,000 Chapter 7 bankruptcy estates and has been involved in hundreds of lawsuits, both bankruptcy and civil. He has experience in a range of legal areas including civil litigation, contract drafting/disputes, domestic relations, bankruptcy litigation, and real property. As an active lawyer in Denver, Rob continues to represent individuals and businesses in a range of matters in order to continually learn and gain practical experience so as to better manage the firm and represent his clients.