University of Wyoming College of Law completed its expansion and renovation of the law building that originally opened in 1977.
Officials officially broke ground in 2022 to make improvements to bring the law school into compliance with American Bar Association standards and add exterior features to connect with the Collegiate Gothic sandstone style of the university’s other historic buildings.
The $38.3 million project includes 20,000 square feet of new construction that houses offices for the law school’s pro bono legal services clinics — named the Alan K. Simpson Center for Clinical and Experiential Learning. Also featured in the new facility are exhibits about Simpson’s life and career, the history of the law school, which opened in 1920, and the achievements of its graduates.
“The center enhances students’ training as both scholars and practitioners,” said Julie Hill, dean of University of Wyoming College of Law. “The center is named for Alan Simpson, Wyoming’s “straight-shooting statesman.”
Simpson is a 1958 graduate of the law school who served in the Wyoming Legislature from 1964 to 1978 before being elected to three terms in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 1997. His distinguished career in politics and public service was capped with the receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.
The Alan K. Simpson Center for Clinical and Experiential Learning houses the Civil Legal Services Clinic, the Defender Aid Clinic, the Family and Child Legal Advocacy Clinic, the International Human Rights Clinic, the Prosecution Assistance Program and the Energy, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic.
