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8 Wyo. Law. 1 (1985)

handle is hein.barjournals/wymlawy0008 and id is 1 raw text is: LA YER Vol. VIII, No. 1 Official Publication of Wyoming State Bar April 1965 Richard V. Thomas is New Chief Justice As of January 1, 1985, the new Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court is the Honorable Richard V. Thomas. His term as Chief Justice will run through December 31, 1986. The Chief Justice is the chief ad- ministrative officer for the court system in Wyoming. It is his respon- sibility to oversee the management of the county courts and the minor urts. Of course, the Chief Justice is also responsible for many adminis- trative functions within the court system. Chief Justice Thomas is very well aware that some additional time will need to be invested on his part in order for him to take care of all the paperwork. Within the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice assigns all cases for opin- ions, except if he has recused himself from a case. In that instance, the next senior judge assigns the case for opin- ion. Interestingly, the Chief Justice assigns the case for opinion even if he is dissenting. Justice Thomas was born on October 11, 1932 at Superior, Wyoming. His father was John W. Thomas (now de- ceased) and his mother is Gertrude M. Thomas, now residing in Escondido, California. He is married to the former Lesley Arlene Ekman of Sinclair, Wyo- ming and is the father of four children: Tara Lynn, Richard Ross, Laura Lee, rd Sidney Marie. After graduating from Lingle High School in Lingle, Wyoming in 1950, Justice Thomas received his B.S. in Business Administration in 1954 and his LL.B. in 1956 from the University Richard V. Thomas of Wyoming. In 1%1 he received an LL.M. in Taxation from the New York University School of Law. His professional career includes ap- pointment as Justice of the Supreme Court of Wyoming in December 1974; United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming 1%9-1974; Partner in law firm of Hirst, Applegate & Thomas, July 6, 1964-July, 1%9; Associate in Law Firm of Hirst & Applegate, June, 1963-July, 1964; Law Clerk to Honor- able John C. Pickett, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, September, 1960-September, 1963; teaching fellow at New York Univer- sity School of Law, September, 1956- May, 1957. Justice Thomas' military service was with Judge Advocate General's De- partment, United States Air Force, September, 1957-September, 1960. He is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Wyoming, the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming and the United States Court of Military Appeals. One of Justice Thomas' concerns is his desire to obtain additional money from the Legislature to fund more law clerk positions. Justice Thomas came on to the Supreme Court in 1974; the justices had no law clerks. In 1976 ap- proval for three law clerks was ob- tained which the justices shared. Later, each justice obtained one law clerk each. Justice Thomas states that from the time each justice had a law clerk until now, there has been a dou- bling of docket filings in the Wyoming Supreme Court. Justice Thomas hopes to obtain at some point in the future enough money to fund five more law clerk positions. It is interesting to note that in the federal system, the district court judges have two law clerks each, and the appellate court judges have three. Justice Thomas is also cor, cemed about judicial burn out on the trial bench. He is concerned because the trend seems to be younger individuals applying for judicial vacancies. For in- stance, of the latest vacancies for the Fourth and Sixth Judicial Districts, 25 lawyers applied. Of those 25 appli- cants, only ten were of the age 40 or Continued on page 6 Digitized from Best Copy Available Digitized from Best Copy Available The Wyoming I 1_