Brooke at the Bar

Inside Our Legal System

Brooke Wunnicke

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781646424191
• eBook ISBN:
  9781646424207
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Biographies
• Index: Law

Brooke at the Bar is a candid, lively, and sometimes humorous autobiography by Brooke Wunnicke, the first woman to be a trial and appellate attorney in Wyoming and who went on to become a legal legend in Colorado. In conversational writing, Brooke provides insights from a lawyer, mentor, and educator. She advocates that, while not perfect, the United States has the world's best legal system and that all citizens need to understand and protect their rights, freedoms, and responsibilities.
 
Brooke shares vignettes of her early life—California in the Great Depression, college at Stanford, law school in Colorado during World War II, and the 1946 opening of her Cheyenne law office, a precedent for women in law. She vividly describes memorable and amusing experiences with clients, witnesses, lawyers, juries, and judges and explains some significant cases. She recounts important and dynamic events from her twelve years as Denver's chief appellate deputy district attorney, an era during which she was an inestimable mentor to many young lawyers who became prominent in the private and public sectors.
 
Brooke passionately believed "the law has been and will continue to be civilization's hope." In her book's final part, she demystifies many legal terms and procedures and describes the parts of a civil jury trial—including information for jurors and witnesses—and provides an enthusiastic and clear refresher on the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
 
Brooke at the Bar is a unique and historically important contribution that will be of interest to general readers, scholars, and students interested in US law, political science, government, women's history, twentieth-century western history, civil rights, and legal communities, including those in Wyoming and Colorado, where Brooke was "at the Bar."
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Governor’s Honorary Proclamation
• Meet “Brooke at the Bar”: As Others Write about Brooke
• List of Figures
• Foreword: Brooke Wunnicke, Autobiography and Commentary on the American Legal System
• Preface: Brooke’s Welcome to the Reader, a Letter to Brooke’s Friends and Colleagues, and a Song about Brooke
• Part One: Meet the Author for Your Voyage “Inside Our Legal System” 3
• Part Two: The Lawyer, 1946–2011
• Part Three: The Law
• Epilogue: Your Inalienable Rights
• Brooke Wunnicke Curriculum Vitae: 1918–2014
• Denver Public Library Western History and Genealogy Archive Index of the Brooke Wunnicke Papers
• Index
• Timberline Books series list