“After graduating undergrad, I was something of a lost soul,” began Carl Edelman, the newest attorney at Williams, Porter, Day, and Neville.
He said it in jest, but it’s quite possible that’s how he actually felt at the time. He was searching for his “thing.” He was looking for his purpose. He would find it, eventually, but it took a little while. Upon graduating college, Edelman began a career in banking. It lasted about eight months. Following that, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his life.
So, he followed in his parents’ footsteps.
He became an attorney.
Edelman’s mom and dad were both attorneys; dad a prosecutor, mom a defender of “the little guy.” Edelman himself, personality-wise, was somewhere in between.
“My parents didn’t really push me in the direction of being an attorney, but I was always told that I should be one, because apparently I was stubborn and liked to argue,” Edelman stated. “But I now see that as not really being that beneficial of a skill; you have to be willing to compromise.”
That’s a lesson that Edelman learned very quickly in his career as an attorney; a career that began after graduating from the University of Wyoming College of Law. He graduated in 2021 and passed the bar exam later that year.
And then, he got to work.
Edleman moved to Gillette during his last year of law school and began working for a small law firm in the city, which he continued to work at after he graduated.
“It was awesome,” Edelman said of the experience. “It’s pure chaos in the sense that you really only have one mentor, and one person to lean on. The beauty of WPDN is that you’ve got 20 people around who have been doing it way longer than I have, so I can always ask anybody a question. There, I had to go out and find clients and it’s hard to sell a 25-year-old to somebody and prove to them that I can provide the legal services that they need.”
Still, that’s exactly what he did, and he gained a lot of experience in doing so.
After about six months, Edelman moved back to Cheyenne with his then-fiancé and began working for the Attorney General.
“I did primarily just advising work there,” Edelman stated, “so I didn’t really practice law in the sense of getting in a courtroom or advising single clients. It was just dealing with different agencies around the state.”
Still, the work that he did there and the experience and lessons that he picked up were vital to his career at that point in time.
“The biggest thing I learned while working for the AG was the importance of good interpersonal skills with a broad majority of people,” he said.
Eventually, Edelman garnered the attention of Williams, Porter, Day, and Neville.
“I ran into one of the partners down here in Cheyenne, Tom Rumpke,” Edelman remembered. “He was actually on the bench in Gillette when I was practicing up there. We chatted at the store for, like, five minutes, and then I think I gave him a call or sent him an email a week or so later and said, ‘Hey, if you guys are ever looking to hire, I’d love to have an opportunity to interview, or at least give you guys a résumé.”
They say that “In life, timing is everything,” and the timing of Edelman’s career path synced up perfectly with the timing of WPDN opening an office in Cheyenne.
“It was very lucky,” Edelman said. “Tom reached out to me and started setting up interviews with all the folks up in Casper. I also spoke with Sean Scoggin, who was heading up the opening of the WPDN office in Cheyenne. I met with him and Blaine Burgess and a few other guys. I interviewed with everybody and a few days later, they extended the offer.”
Edelman does not lack confidence but, as a self-appointed “Lost Soul,” it was at first hard to believe that a firm with the reputation that WPDN has would be interested in him.
“I was shocked,” he stated. “I’ve always thought incredibly highly of WPDN. Everybody around the state, be it in the legal community or outside of it, knows of this firm. So it was really, really exciting.”
After he got the news, Edelman went over to his parents’ house to give them the news.
“I went over there to play cards,” he remembered. “That’s when I told them and my dad said, ‘Well, I was hoping I would be the one to teach you how to be a trial attorney, but Pat Murphy is the best one in the state, so you’re lucky there.’”
Indeed he is. Attorneys like Pat Murphy, Craig Silva, Ryan Ford, Scott Ortiz and so many more are at Edelman’s disposal, and that is one of the most exciting things about taking the job with WPDN, Edelman said.
“The reputation of WPDN has always been one of professionalism, with smart attorneys and great advocates,” Edelman said. “They’re smart people. They’re good people. And that’s been my experience to a T with them. I prefer to now be the quietest person in the room, to try and soak up everything from everybody because they have all just seen so much and they are so wise.”
Edelman now has the opportunity to learn from the attorneys of Williams, Porter, Day, and Neville. But they won’t be his only resources. He will also have, as he’s always had, his parents.
“More than anything, my parents have taught me temperance,” he stated. “They showed me how important it is to keep your cool, and to remember that cooler heads will prevail.”
Edelman learned a lot about the law prior to joining WPDN. Some would say he was born into this line of work. Now, he’s primed to learn even more as he begins to stand alongside some of Wyoming’s most respected attorneys.
And even though Carl Edelman, admittedly, put the “law” in “Lost Soul,” he has truly found himself at Williams, Porter, Day, and Neville and his future is incredibly bright. Edelman was searching for his purpose after he graduated college. He found it, eventually. He found his career. He found his “thing.” He found his purpose.
The irony, of course, is that it was there the whole time, just waiting for him to catch up.
To find out more about Carl Edelman and the other attorneys of Williams, Porter, Day, and Neville, visit their website or check out their Facebook page.
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