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• Kate Fox, representing the City of Gillette, Wyoming, had a recent victory in front of the Wyoming Supreme Court in Sinclair v. Gillette, 2012 WY 19.
  
  Ms. Fox successfully argued that the district court's decision to dismiss the Sinclair's complaint was correct because the Plaintiff's claim did not fall within any of the exceptions of the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act. The Wyoming Supreme Court again recognized that governmental entities are immune from suit in all but very specific circumstances. The Court held the Sinclairs' claims for damages for the loss of value to their land after the City mistakenly placed a drainage pipe on their property did not fall within the exception for operation of a public utility.
• Amanda F. Esch recently gave a presentation at the 86^th Annual Dude Rancher's Association Convention, held in Cody, Wyoming, on the topic of employment law. Amanda offered practical employment law tips to guest ranch employers to assist them in maintaining positive relationships with employees and guests, and avoid and defend lawsuits.
  
  Amanda discussed effective use of employee manuals, the importance of maintaining an at-will relationship with your employees, and implementation of effective safety and anti-discrimination policies. Check the Dude Rancher's Association here.
• Davis & Cannon, LLP is pleased to announce that J. Mark Stewart, P.E. was named partner January 1, 2012. Mark joined the firm in 2006 after graduating with honors from the University of Wyoming College of Law. His primary areas of practice are water and natural resources law, construction law, and defense of governmental entities. Mark's practice is enhanced by his sixteen years of experience as a civil engineer. Davis & Cannon, LLP is excited that Mark will continue his career with us, based in our Cheyenne office.
• For the second year in a row, Davis & Cannon, LLP was named as a "highly recommended firm" by Benchmark Litigation, the Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys. This is Benchmark Litigation's highest ranking and Davis & Cannon, LLP is one of only four recipients in Wyoming.
  
  Benchmark Litigation says of the firm:

  Davis & Cannon is considered a premier Wyoming litigation firm, with a 10-layer team deeply versed in the region's traditional practice areas of construction law, natural resource development, environmental, energy and water regulation, insurance defense, and real estate. With a first-rate litigation practice, which includes acing as counsel to various governmental agencies and municipalities, peers uniformly agree, "Davis & Cannon is a very, very good firm."

  Individually, Kim Cannon was recognized as a "local litigation star" in the field of commercial litigation, while Kate Fox was recognized as a "local litigation star" in the fields of civil ligiation and employment litigation.
• Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Kate M. Fox as the "Cheyenne Best Lawyers Litigation Environmental Lawyer of the Year" and John C. McKinley, "Cheyenne Best Lawyers Natural Resources Law Lawyer of the Year," for the year 2012.
  
  Only one attorney in each specialty in the Cheyenne legal community receives these designations, and Davis & Cannon, LLP is proud of Kate and John's accomplishments. Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.
• Amanda F. Esch gave a presentation on Privacy in the Workplace, as part of an Employment Law—Best Practices seminar sponsored by Sterling Education Services. The presentation was held in Cheyenne, Wyoming on October 5, 2011.
  
  Amanda discussed topics such as drug testing of employees, employee use of social networking sites, and employer monitoring of workplace computers and phones. The presentation was directed at giving employers guidelines to help them promote a safe and productive workplace, without impinging on the legal rights of their employees.
• Davis and Cannon, LLP is pleased to announce that several of the firm’s attorneys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).
  
  

  Kate Fox was selected in the fields of Administrative/Regulatory Law, Environmental Law, Litigation-Environmental, Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation-Defendants.
  
  Richard M. Davis, Jr. was selected in the fields of Corporate Law, Energy Law, Natural Resources Law, and Real Estate Law.
  
  Kim D. Cannon was selected in the fields of Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants and Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs.
  
  John McKinley was selected for inclusion in the field of Natural Resources Law.
  
  

  Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 41,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.9 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counselmagazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”
  
  It is important to note that the lawyers listed in Best Lawyers have no say in deciding which practice areas they are included in. They are voted into practice areas entirely as a result of the votes they receive from their peers. The subspecialties listed after their names are based on information from a variety of sources.
  
  
• The working cattle and dude ranch where Amanda Esch grew up was recently named by Sunset Magazine as one of the "Top 9 Dude Ranch Escapes." Eatons' Ranch has been owned and operated by Amanda's family since the 1880's. The ranch, in Wolf, Wyoming, is at the base of the Bighorn Mountains, 18 miles west of Sheridan, Wyoming, where Davis & Cannon, LLP's original office is located. See the article here.
• Kate Fox was recently featured in a SuperLawyers article recognizing Kate's success in a variety of litigation areas. Kate is a five time "Super Lawyer" and is recognized as one of the top 40 female lawyers in the Mountain States region and for her skills in the areas of Employement & Labor law and Civil Litigation. The SuperLawyers article can be found here.
• Clint A. Langer recently presented a session on municipal employment law at the 2011 Wyoming Association of Municipalities ("WAM") Annual Convention. Clint highlighted some of the important distinctions between private employment and public employment under Wyoming law, discussing topics such as at-will employment, handbook, and termination issues. Clint is one of several attorneys at Davis & Cannon, LLP who handles employment cases in both the public and private sector.
• John McKinley was a featured speaker at the 2011 Wyoming Conservation Easement Conference, presented by the University of Wyoming College of Law Rural Law Center, and hosted in conjunction with the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and Jackson Hole Land Trust. The event was attended by over one hundred land owners, appraisers, land men, attorneys, and real estate agents. The Conference focused on the benefits and burdens of conservation easements in Wyoming, and issues facing land owners and land trusts when they negotiate these agreements.
  
  John is well versed in the subject, having successfully negotiated conservation easements on behalf of both land trusts and Wyoming land owners. John spoke on a panel discussing the interplay between conservation easements and mineral rights, as he also has a strong background in representing land owners regarding mineral rights matters.
• The Bitterroot Ranch where Kate Fox grew up is featured in a recent article in the Washington Post. Click here to read more.
• Davis & Cannon, LLP has been selected as the one law firm from Wyoming to join Meritas – an international network of full service law firms providing both transactional and litigation services around the world. Meritas firms are located in all 50 states and in 73 countries. Meritas membership is both an honor for the firm and an advantage to our clients in assisting us in locating and working with excellent lawyers on a wide array of issues outside Wyoming. As the world flattens and technology enables our own clients to do business on a worldwide stage, our firm can address their needs, wherever they are doing business.

• Davis & Cannon, LLP was named as one of the top law firms in Wyoming by U.S. News and World Report, in a number of different practice areas. The Sheridan office was ranked in the top tier in Corporate Law, Energy Law, Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Personal Injury Litigation for both Plaintiffs and Defendants, and Real Estate Law.
  
  The Cheyenne office was ranked in the top tier in Administrative/Regulatory Law, Environmental Law, Personal Injury Litigation for Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation for Defendants.
  
  The U.S. News and World Report rankings are generated through a combination of data collected from attorneys, as well as client surveys. Davis & Cannon, LLP is proud to receive this recognition based on our excellent reputation with our fellow practitioners, and importantly, the satisfaction of our clients. 

• Kim D. Cannon is the Chair for the Wyoming delegation of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers . The United States membership of the Academy is limited to 500 active trial lawyers, and fellowship is by invitation only. "The Academy's purposes are to promote reforms in the law, facilitate the Administration of Justice, promote the Rule of Law internationally, and elevate the standards of integrity, honor and courtesy in the legal profession." International Academy of Trial Lawyers
• The firm includes three "Super Lawyers." Richard M. Davis is recognized in the areas of Real Estates, Estate Planning and Probate, and Business/Corporate. Kim D. Cannon is recognized in the areas of personal injury, business litigation and environmental litigation; Kate M. Fox in the areas of employment and labor, environmental and civil litigation defense. Super Lawyers
• Davis & Cannon, LLP was again recognized in 2011 by Chambers USA, "America's Leading Lawyers for Business," as a leader in the fields of litigation and employment law. Kate M. Fox and Kim D. Cannon were both recognized as stand-out litigators in Wyoming. Chambers also recognized Kate M. Fox as a “Band 1” “key individual” in the employment law category; and Richard M. Davis, Jr. as a leader in Wyoming real estate law.
  
  Links to Chambers:

  Firm Profile
  Kate M. Fox
  Kim D. Cannon
  Richard M. Davis, Jr.

• Davis & Cannon, LLP partner, Hayden F. Heaphy serves as a Disciplinary Judge for the Wyoming State Bar Board of Professional Responsibility. He also currently serves as the Fourth Judicial District Circuit Court Commissioner and a Magistrate Judge for the Sheridan County Drug Court.
• Davis & Cannon, LLP partner, Kate M. Fox, currently serves on the Standing Committee on Local Rules for the Wyoming Federal District Court.