Title: BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, WYOMING STATE BAR v. WILLIAM DANIEL ELSOM, Attorney No. 5-2785

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, WYOMING STATE BAR v. WILLIAM DANIEL ELSOM, Attorney No. 5-2785 2008 WY 76187 P.3d 358Case Number: D-07-0004Decided: 07/03/2008
April Term, A.D. 2008

 
 
BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL 
RESPONSIBILITY, WYOMING STATE BAR,Petitioner,v.WILLIAM 
DANIEL ELSOM, Attorney No. 5-2785,Respondent.

 
 
 

 
 

[¶1]      This 
matter 
came before the Court upon the "Findings 
of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommendation for Reinstatement," filed 
herein June 4, 2008, by the Board of Professional Responsibility for the Wyoming 
State Bar.  After a careful review 
of the Board of Professional Responsibility's "Findings of Fact, Conclusions of 
Law and Recommendation for Reinstatement;" the transcript from the Board's April 
22, 2008, hearing in this matter; and the file, this Court finds as 
follows.  

 
 

1.   On July 27, 2006, this Court, 
acting pursuant to Rule 10(e) of the Rules of the Wyoming State Board of 
Continuing Education, suspended Respondent William Daniel Elsom from the 
practice of law, due to his failure to comply with the continuing legal 
education (CLE) requirements contained in Rule 4 of those rules.  

 
 

2.   On October 5, 2006, a "Judgment in 
a Criminal Case" was entered in the case of United States of America v. William D. "Dan" 
Elsom, Case Number 05-DR-231-02J in the United States District Court for the 
District of Wyoming.  In that 
judgment, Mr. Elsom was convicted of conspiracy to commit sales of unregistered 
securities, a felony under federal law.  
See 18 U.S.C. § 371; 15 U.S.C. § 77e(a)(2); 15 U.S.C. § 77x; and 18 
U.S.C. § 3559(a).  

 
 

3.   This Court was not formally 
apprised of Mr. Elsom's conviction until August 30, 2007, when Bar Counsel filed 
a "Notice of Filing of Judgment."

 
 

4.   On September 25, 2007, this Court, 
acting pursuant to Section 18 of the Disciplinary Code for the Wyoming State 
Bar, suspended Mr. Elsom from the practice of law, following conviction of a 
"serious crime."  See Section 
3(y)(i) (Defining "Serious Crime" as "Any felony").  Under Section 18, when a judgment of a 
serious crime is filed with this Court, this Court is required to "enter an 
order immediately suspending the attorney, pending final disposition in a 
disciplinary proceeding."  

 
 

5.   The Board of Professional 
Responsibility conducted disciplinary proceedings, and it also considered Mr. 
Elsom's request for reinstatement.  
In the present "Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommendation 
for Reinstatement," the Board of Professional Responsibility (Board) recommends 
that Respondent Elsom be reinstated to the practice of law.  The Board concluded that Mr. Elsom "has 
been suspended from the practice of law for nearly two years.  No further disciplinary action against 
[Mr. Elsom] is required or recommended."   

 
 

6.   This Court agrees with the Board's 
implicit conclusion that a two-year suspension is the appropriate discipline in 
this matter.  However, this Court 
differs with the Board with respect to how that period of suspension should be 
measured.  This Court finds that the 
two-year suspension should be measured from September 25, 2007, the day this 
Court, acting pursuant to Section 18 of the Disciplinary Code, suspended Mr. 
Elsom from the practice of law.  
Therefore, this Court finds that it must reject the Board's 
recommendation to reinstate Mr. Elsom.  
 

 
 

7.   The Court also finds that is should 
comment on Mr. Elsom's CLE suspension.  
As of this writing, the Board of Continuing Legal Education has not 
recommended that Mr. Elsom be reinstated from his CLE suspension.  See Rule 12 of the Rules of the 
WyomingState Board of Continuing 
Education.  Before Mr. Elsom can be 
fully reinstated to the practice of law, he must also resolve, as a separate 
matter, his CLE suspension.  

 
 

[¶2]      IT IS, THEREFORE, 
ADJUDGED AND ORDERED that the Board of 
Professional Responsibility's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and 
Recommendation for Reinstatement, which is attached hereto and incorporated 
herein, shall be, and the same hereby is, adopted in part and rejected in part, 
as noted above; and it is further

 
 

[¶3]      ADJUDGED AND ORDERED 
that, as 
a result of his felony conviction, Respondent William Daniel Elsom shall be, and 
hereby is, suspended from the practice of law for a period of two years, with 
that period of suspension beginning on September 25, 2007, the day this Court, 
acting pursuant to Section 18 of the Disciplinary Code for the Wyoming State 
Bar, suspended Mr. Elsom from the practice of law; and it is further 

 
 

[¶4]      ORDERED that, on or before 
September 30, 2008, William Daniel Elsom shall reimburse the Wyoming State Bar 
the amount of $3,095.54, representing the costs of the Board's hearing in this 
matter; and it is further

 
 

[¶5]      ORDERED that, pursuant to Rule 
4(c) of the Disciplinary Code for the Wyoming State Bar, this Order Suspending 
Attorney from the Practice of Law, along with the incorporated Findings of Fact, 
Conclusions of Law and Recommendation for Reinstatement, shall be published in 
the Wyoming Reporter and the Pacific Reporter; and it is 
further

 
 

[¶6]      ORDERED that the Clerk of this 
Court shall docket this Order Suspending Attorney from the Practice of Law, 
along with the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommendation for 
Reinstatement, as a matter coming regularly before this Court as a public 
record; and it is further

            

[¶7]      
ORDERED that the Clerk of this 
Court transmit a copy of this Order Suspending Attorney form the Practice of Law 
to the members of the Board of Professional Responsibility, and the clerks of 
the appropriate courts of the State of Wyoming.

 
 

DATED this 2nd day of July, 
2008.

 
 
                                                                        
BY THE COURT:

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                        
BARTON R. VOIGT

                                                                        
Chief Justice