At Williams, Porter, Day, and Neville, we do Wyoming Better. We are a Wyoming focused law firm, with deep roots in the state. For over 70 years, we have represented the pinnacle of representation in Wyoming.
But why?
Why do our attorneys, some of the best attorneys in the world, choose to stay in Wyoming? Is it the location? Is it the serenity? Is it the lakes and the mountains and the parks and the weather (it’s not the weather)? The truth is, it’s all of these things and more (except the weather). But it’s also because of the people. WPDN attorneys work tirelessly for the people of Wyoming, because they’re not just clients; they’re neighbors. WPDN is rooted in Wyoming and those roots matter to all of our attorneys.
“WPDN is a proud Wyoming firm,” said Kristi Fields, an associate at WPDN. “We are Wyoming’s firm. I take that to heart, and I try to represent WPDN, and Wyoming, as best I can. Every case is different. Every client is different and all of the challenges that come with a case are different. Some cases are headaches, some aren’t but we’re still learning something. And I think that’s actually really cool. I was telling my children that the other day- we’re all learning, and you don’t have to go to school to learn something.”
Scott Murray did go to school however; first in Wyoming, then New Hampshire, then back to Wyoming.
Murray grew up in Casper and attended the University of Wyoming before moving to New Hampshire to receive a Masters of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Dartmouth College. But Wyoming was never too far from his heart.
“When I finished up my Master’s degree, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in law and that I wanted to go to law school,” he said. “At the same time, having grown up in Casper and being a ‘Wyoming Guy,’ I knew that I wanted to make my way back. So [returning to UW] seemed like the perfect transition.”
So that’s what he did. Murray received his JD in 2011, worked for a few Casper-based law firms, and began working for WPDN in 2019.
He serves on multiple boards throughout the community as well, in addition to his work with WPDN. And he does that simply because he cares about his community.
“It’s important to me to be a part of the community and to help the area thrive,” Murray said. “Growing up in Casper and going to high school here, a lot of peoples’ goal is to get out; I think that’s common, really, regardless of where people grow up. A lot of people will leave their hometown and then come back and when I came back home after law school, I wanted to work to make it an attractive place for people to come.”
And if anyone knows how great of a place Casper, and Wyoming in general, is to live and grow up, it’s Patrick Murphy. Murphy has lived in Wyoming for the majority of his life. His family, much like the firm itself, has roots here that go back decades.
“I’m the oldest of 12 children,” Murphy revealed. “My dad was Dr. Joseph Murphy [who practiced] here in town, but I was born in Denver with two others, child number two and child number three. My parents thought Denver was too busy, that it was too crowded, so we came back to Casper. We settled here in Casper and my mom and dad had nine more kids. I went to the University of Notre Dame for my undergrad from ’72 to ‘76, but I came back to the University of Wyoming for law school and I’ve never left.”
Neither has Steve Emery. Emery’s grandfather moved to Casper in 1920 and actually helped build the building that WPDN currently occupies.
“There is a picture of my grandfather in the basement of this building,” Emery stated. My mother’s mother and stepdad built a house on 13th Street, between Center and Wolcott and, while it was being built, they pitched a tent where Casper College is now and spent the summer there. So, my family has been here over a hundred years.”
Once again, roots. But the men and women of WPDN don’t stay in Wyoming out of some sort of obligation.
They do it because they like living here.
“We are Wyoming lawyers,” Emery stated matter-of-factly. “Almost every attorney in this office is from Casper. Most of us went to NC [Natrona County High School] and all of us went to Laramie for law school. We’re very homegrown. We’re your friends and your neighbors, and your attorneys.”
And that is why our attorneys choose Wyoming. They’re not just choosing the state; they’re choosing you.