Lyman, Gregory 2004 Evaluation

Reports:

2004 Retention Survey Report 

The Sixth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance unanimously recommends that Judge Gregory G. Lyman BE RETAINED.

Judge Lyman was appointed to the Sixth Judicial District Court bench in June 1996. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Lyman worked at the District Attorneys Office in the Sixth Judicial District from 1983-1984. Judge Lyman was in private practice both in Wheatland Wyoming and Durango Colorado, specializing in Domestic Relations, Criminal Defense and Insurance Defense until he was elected District Attorney for the Sixth Judicial District in l992. Judge Lyman graduated from University of Colorado School of Law in 1979.

The Commission reviewed written surveys of Judge Lyman from attorneys and non-attorneys, including written verbatim comments included in the questionnaires. The Commission also considered a written self-evaluation completed by Judge Lyman, conducted a personal interview with Judge Lyman and held a public hearing to consider any other comments.

In 1989, the State Judicial Department recommended that no divorce case should be open after a year has passed. Because funding limited the budget for court representatives Judge Lyman redistributed the domestic cases to take them himself to personally handle the status conferences to answer questions and direct parties with the procedures necessary to complete the preliminary work and issue temporary orders so that only final issues that have not been agreed upon go before the Permanent Orders Judges. This has assured all parties, including those who have no attorney involved, that their cases will be handled efficiently and with minimal delay. Judge Lyman chairs the Minority Over-representation Committee and the Access to Justice Committee which ensures access to the courts for all and ensures that issues of over representation of minorities in our system continually be examined. While Judge Lyman has had a 300% increase in water case filings this year, he has continued to monitor his age of case to reach his goal of significantly reducing the length of time a case remains open. Judge Lyman received the Southwest Bar Association Professionalism Award in 2003.

Judge Lyman is well liked and has a reputation in the community for his fairness and his integrity. Of the attorneys responding to the questionnaire, 93% recommended that Judge Lyman be retained in office, while 7% recommend to not retain. The non attorneys responding to the surveys voted 94% in favor of retention, while the number of voting not to retain was 6%.