On Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Supreme Court of the State of Wyoming Publicly Censured attorney Casandra A. Craven for failure to act with reasonable diligence.

The case is entitled “Board of Professional Responsibility v. Casandra A. Craven” with case no. D-23-0001.

The charges cited Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.6, and 1.16 which state:

A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client.

A lawyer shall not reveal confidential information relating to the (a) representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent, the disclosure is impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation or the disclosure is permitted by paragraph (b).

Upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been named or incurred. The lawyer may retain papers relating to the client to the extent permitted by Rule 1.15A or other laws.

The Rules of Professional Conduct can be found here.

The matter in dispute came before the court based on the Report and Recommendation for Public Censure issued by the Board of Professional Responsibility for the Wyoming State Bar. According to the facts, the respondent held a public defender contract and was appointed to represent the Complainant in two Criminal Matters. While handling the said case, the complainant wanted her money to be refunded by the respondent for the reason that the latter was hired to handle the case but never filed the divorce action. This is contrary to the respondent’s version stating that the complainant wanted to hold off the case for health-related issues.

The filing states:

“The complainant reiterated that the Respondent should not keep the fee because she was hired to handle Complainant’s divorce but never even filed the divorce action. The complainant also told Respondent that she no longer wished to be represented by Respondent. Respondent again refused to return any portion of the fee, stating, “Work has been completed and it is a flat fee agreement… The divorce was completely drafted and investigated and you told me not to file due to your health issues.”

The filing continues:

“At the time of the text messages in January and early February 2020, Respondent believed that the divorce paperwork was filed and had leamed from Respondent’s staff that the process server was unable to serve Husband. Upon learning from Complainant that the divorce complaint had not been filed, Respondent contacted the Clerk’s office and spoke with her staff regarding the filing. Respondent learned that her staff had not filed the paperwork before attempting service.4 Respondent then spoke with Complainant and apologized for the miscommunication.”

The Board concluded then that the respondent failed to act with reasonable diligence in representing her client in the said matter causing the latter injury or potential injury. The respondent admitted the violations of the abovementioned rules. In lieu of this, the Board recommended that the respondent be publicly censured. After careful consideration of the Court of the factual allegations and the Report and Recommendation by the Board, it decided to approve the Report and Recommendation. Thus, ordering to publicly censure the respondent.

The Disposition states:

“ADJUDGED AND ORDERED that the Board of Professional Responsibility’s Report and Recommendation for Public Censure, which is attached hereto and incorporated herein, shall be, and the same hereby is, approved, confirmed, and adopted by this Court; and it is further ADJUDGED AND ORDERED that Casandra A. Craven is hereby publicly censured for her conduct, which is described in the Report and Recommendation for Public Censure. The Wyoming State Bar may issue a press release consistent with the one set out in the Report and Recommendation for Public Censure.”

As of today, Ms. Craven is listed as the Owner of longhorn Law LLC. She attended the University of Wyoming College of Law, graduating in 2015. She practices in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She is licensed in Wyoming with license #7-5664. Her info can be found on Linkedin.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.