Summary
applying Friedman and invalidating former Wyoming Supreme Court Rule 5(c) which required residency in order to become a member of the Wyoming State Bar Association by motion instead of by taking the bar exam
Summary of this case from Ware v. Wyoming Bd. of Law ExaminersOpinion
No. 87-1811.
February 1, 1989.
Kent N. Campbell (William A. Swainson, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, with him on the briefs) of Anderson, Sommermeyer, Wick Dow, Fort Collins, Colo., for plaintiff-appellant.
Peter J. Mulvaney (Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., State of Wyo., with him on the brief), Deputy Atty. Gen., State of Wyo., for defendants-appellees.
John E. Masters and Robert T. McCue of Dray, Madison Thompson, P.C., Cheyenne, Wyo., on the brief for the Wyoming State Bar, amicus curiae.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming.
This is an appeal from an order of the district court upholding the rules of the Wyoming Supreme Court which required that an attorney be a resident of the State of Wyoming in order to be eligible for admission to the bar on motion instead of by taking a bar examination, 659 F. Supp. 207 (1987). Plaintiff Sommermeyer challenges the residency requirement on the grounds that it violates the privileges and immunities clause of article 4, section 2 of the federal constitution. In our view this case is controlled by the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Supreme Court of Virginia v. Friedman, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 2260, 101 L.Ed.2d 56 (1988). Based upon that decision we hold that Wyoming Supreme Court Rule 5(c) is unconstitutional, and REVERSE and REMAND to the district court with instructions to enter an order directing that the appropriate official in the State of Wyoming admit plaintiff to the bar of the state.