Public Interest Firm

It is further the purpose of Lawyers and Advocates for Wyoming to train and educate persons engaged in the practice of law and to encourage social betterment through the legal profession.

Background
Lawyers & Advocates for Wyoming or L.A.W. was started in 1991. It was Gerry Spence’s dream to create a law firm that was devoted solely to Wyoming’s public interest. He wanted a law firm that would always fight for Wyoming’s people and important Wyoming causes—even if those cases did not generate an economic value for the law firm. Based on this dream, he and his partners at Spence, Moriarity and Schuster, L.L.C. started L.A.W.

L.A.W. is not-for-profit. It strives to support itself by re-investing fees earned from cases into the firm and using the money to fund future cases. The firm’s sole employee is a Director who is selected by the Board of Directors. (The Board is made up of the members of The Spence Law Firm, L.L.C.). The Director is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the firm and the day-to-day management of all cases assigned to L.A.W. For each case that is handled by L.A.W., one or more Board members are assigned to assist and advise the Director in that particular case. The Board members do not receive fees for the work they perform on L.A.W.’s cases—all of their time is donated. L.A.W. simply would not be successful without the hours of work that the Board contributes to L.A.W., and the guidance they provide the Director. This firm also takes cases outside the state of Wyoming if they have social appeal and are seen to advance the betterment of justice.