Student Highlight: Brian Annes

University of Wyoming College of Law student Brian Annes appeared in an oral argument before the Wyoming Supreme Court today in Cheyenne. Annes is part of the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resources Law Clinic (EENR) which is wrapping up its inaugural year at the College of Law. The EENR Law Clinic is a two semester class that is jointly managed and taught by professors from the College of Law and attorneys from the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office. The Clinic has a hybrid structure consisting of a classroom component and a clinical practice component.

As an assignment in the EENR Law Clinic, Annes wrote a brief to the Court in March regarding an appeal stemming from the Phase III Adjudication of the Big Horn River. The Court requested oral argument, providing Annes with the opportunity take his knowledge of the issue to the courtroom.

Special Assistant Attorney General and co-faculty director of the clinic, Jay Jerde, was pleased with the oral argument. He comments, “When we started the EENR Law Clinic, one of our goals was to provide students with the opportunity to perform actual legal work for the State of Wyoming. I am pleased that we were able to assign a case to Brian that provided him with the opportunity to write a brief and to argue before the Wyoming Supreme Court on behalf of the State.”

Annes was delighted to work on a real case and have the opportunity to take it to the Supreme Court. “I was excited to represent the State in front of the Wyoming Supreme Court,” says Annes. “It was a really great experience and I felt really well prepared thanks to the EENR Law Clinic, the College of Law faculty and the Attorney General’s Office.”

In addition to his work in the EENR Law Clinic and law school, Brian has been working on a joint degree with the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. Annes has demonstrated a keen interest in water law and recently defended his master’s thesis for the program entitled “Interstate Water Banking in the Upper Colorado River Basin: Flexibility and Efficiency for a Dynamic Landscape.”

Annes has also served as the Editor in Chief for the Wyoming Law Review for 2014-2015. The next edition of the publication features a special section of articles dedicated to the Big Horn Adjudication that resulted from the Big Horn Adjudication Symposium hosted by the College of Law in the fall 2014.

Annes is an exceptional and outgoing student with a bright future in the law ahead of him.

“Brian has worked really hard to prepare for today and his hard work was demonstrated,” says Temple Stoellinger, the co-faculty director of the clinic. “He did a great job representing the state of Wyoming and the EENR Law Clinic.”