CASPER, Wyo. — The Natrona County Board of County Commissioners approved a list of attorneys to recommend to the Seventh Judicial District Court for defense work in involuntary commitment proceedings, despite some debate over the recommendations.
This comes after the commission put out a request for contract attorneys in late 2025 following the departure of several attorneys in the county’s legal department. The attorneys will represent people in Title 25 cases, which pertain to the hospitalization of those with mental illnesses.
The recommendations presented to the board included Jael Morsett and Michelle Ganey of Legal Aid of Wyoming Inc., Rendy Lemke, and Laura Newton and Rives White of Cowboy Legal LLC.
Commissioner Dallas Laird voiced opposition to the recommendations, citing the fact that none of the attorneys on the list are residents of Natrona County. Laird argued that local proximity is important for Title 25 cases because attorneys can be called on at irregular hours.
Laird also said he’s hesitant to follow the recommendations without learning more about the candidates
“I don’t know any of those lawyers on that sheet; never met any of them,” he said. “So I wouldn’t be willing to recommend any of them as a commissioner, because I just don’t know anything about them.”
However, Commissioner Peter Nicolaysen argued that the board has a duty to follow its established policies regarding the RFP process. Nicolaysen said that while the court may choose to ignore the resolution, the commission should remain consistent with its bidding processes for services that meet certain dollar thresholds. He also said the finalists on the list were deemed to be qualified through the interview process, which satisfied him.
“I’m concerned that we are now talking about discarding the efforts [of the interview committee]and in the conversation forgotten the difficulties we’ve been facing for the last more-than-12 months,” he said. “My feeling is: Let the judges do their thing. I don’t know any of these three people in the resolution, but we talked at our last meeting and there was a process and there were interviews.”
Deputy County Attorney Ashley Smith told commissioners that while the board may forward these recommendations, the final authority to appoint defense counsel rests with the presiding judge. This means the court may choose to continue using its preferred local counsel regardless of the commissioners’ formal recommendation.
The commissioners ultimately approved the recommendations unanimously as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.